EU May Fail to Deliver on Pledge of Million Shells to Ukraine

Brussels earlier called for the creation of a $22-billion fund to provide Ukraine with weapons and ammunition, military aid that Moscow has warned will help prolong the Ukraine conflict.

The EU is in danger of missing its target of providing Kiev with one million artillery shells by March 2024, which could give Russian troops an advantage in ammunition supplies, a US news outlet quoted unnamed sources as saying.

The sources claimed that with more than half of that time already passed, the bloc's plan "has so far delivered about 30% of the target," based on the volume of contracts signed so far. According to the insiders, several EU members have privately asked the bloc's foreign policy arm to extend the deadline.

These developments are unfolding against the background of the Ukrainian army’s botched counteroffensive, which has already claimed the lives of at least 90,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

In March 2023, EU countries agreed to deliver one million rounds of 155-mm ammunition to Ukraine within a year. The 155mm ammunition will be fired from howitzers, which are said to remain the backbone of the Ukrainian military.

EU member states reportedly said at the time that the $2.1 billion plan for artillery shells for Kiev could be implemented by dipping into existing stocks and then through joint procurement contracts and increasing industrial capacity.

Some arms manufacturers, however, remained pessimistic about the idea, with Morten Brandtzaeg, the CEO of Norway's Nammo, which produces about 25% of Europe's ammunition, saying, "I don't know where these [ammunition] rounds are coming from.

“The industry capacity is not there. I think we should not say that it’s not doable, but I cannot see quite how right now,” Brandtzaeg admitted.

Following the EU's initiative to provide Ukraine with one million artillery shells, the bloc's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has presented an even more ambitious proposal. Borrell is now advocating for a $22 billion fund that will secure a continuous supply of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine over the next four years. Russia has repeatedly warned that Western military aid is prolonging the conflict in Ukraine and that Western countries are "playing with fire" by supplying the Kiev regime with weapons.