Ukrainian soldiers are showing great courage and tenacity.
But they need ammunition.
I welcome today’s agreement aiming to deliver 1 million rounds of ammunition over the next 12 months.
We will work with Member States to ramp up defence industrial production in 🇪🇺 to deliver.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 20, 2023
“We have reached a political consensus to send to Ukraine one million rounds of 155 mm calibre ammunition,” Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers in Brussels.
“There are many, many details still to (be) solved but for me, it is most important that we conclude these negotiations and it shows me one thing: If there is a will, there is a way,” said Pevkur, whose country has driven the initiative.
Not all the details were immediately available but the plan approved by the ministers was based on a proposal from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to spend EUR 1 billion on shells from stockpiles and 1 billion more on joint procurement.
At Monday’s meeting, a group of 16 EU members plus Norway was expected to sign a document known as a project arrangement, setting out the terms of reference for a joint endeavour to buy 155 mm ammunition, led by the EU’s European Defence Agency.
Such a move marks a significant step in EU integration as defence procurement in the European Union has largely been in the hands of individual member governments until now.
Ukraine has identified the supply of 155 mm shells as a critical need as it engages in a fierce war of attrition with invading Russian forces, in which both sides are firing thousands of artillery rounds every day.
Read more: Reuters.