March 25, 2024
The EU has delivered 500,000 of the promised 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine and aims to deliver the total amount by the end of the year, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in his blog on March 25.
The EU announced in March 2023 that it would provide Ukraine with a million shells within one year. News first emerged in October 2023 that the bloc was unlikely to reach its target, having been unable to ramp up production.
On top of the million donated shells, another 400,000 shells will be provided to Ukraine through commercial contracts with the European defense industry, Borrell said.
“The Czech initiative to buy ammunition outside the EU comes in addition to these efforts,” Borrell said, referring to the 800,000 shells in stocks in countries around the world that Prague identified in February as potential supplies for Ukraine.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on March 12 that the initiative has already secured the purchase of 300,000 shells and received nonbinding commitments for 200,000 more. More than 20 countries have pledged funding for the initiative.
According to Borell, however, the planned shell supplies are “far from being enough,” and argued that the EU has to “increase both our capacity of production and the financial resources devoted to support Ukraine.”
Borrell also pointed out that the 290 billion euro ($314 billion) EU defense budget for 2023 only represents 1.7% of EU GDP, which is below the NATO 2% benchmark.
“In the current geopolitical context, this could be seen as a minimum requirement,” Borrell said.
https://kyivindependent.com/borrell-eu-has-delivered-500-000-shells-to-ukraine
That should be within a few days. Let’s hope that this is true. It’s high time to get more ammo. There are lots of roaches to roast.
Europe needs ukrainian prostitutes more than Ukraine needs european shells. 🙄
Mike, have a drink and try again.
I did. Still the same. 😂
😁👌
That seems to be the same lame statement Borell has made before. The 500,000 shells he speaks about have been delivered piecemeal over the last twelve months, the other half million will arrive until the end of this year. The date of March 31st is only relevant for bookkeeping purposes, no mass of ammunition will be magically delivered then. So, nothing changed to that at all. The only new aspect is the deal negotiated by the Chechs, but no concrete date has been given for that. We can only hope those freightloads will start to arrive in the next weeks. 😕
I think that a part of the ammo is already in the country. This is something nobody talks about. Will must examine the happenings on the frontlines to catch a hint.