2023-04-24 06:30:15
Ukraine should express its frustration with the European Union over ammunition
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will have the opportunity on Monday to express directly to his counterparts in the European Union (EU) Kiev’s concern about the quarrels that are hampering the implementation of a project intended to acquire more ammunition to help Ukraine in the face of Russia’s offensive.
The head of the Ukrainian diplomacy expressed last week, via Twitter, his frustration that the unprecedented agreement reached by the member countries of the EU to jointly buy ammunition in order to supply it to Ukraine has not not yet implemented, due to differences within the block on the volume of production to be carried out in Europe. “For Ukraine, the cost of inaction is measured in human lives”wrote Mr. Kuleba on the social network.
EU diplomats have said they expect the Ukrainian minister to raise the issue directly when he speaks by videoconference during a regular meeting of his EU counterparts in Luxembourg. Artillery shells, particularly 155mm shells, are vital to Ukraine in what has become a war of attrition with Russia. According to representatives, Ukrainian troops are using the munitions at a higher rate than the production level of kyiv’s Western allies.
Approved last month by EU foreign ministers, the munitions deal has several parts, one of which sets up a billion-euro budget to reimburse European governments delivering to the Ukraine of the ammunition they have, while another allocates one billion euros for the joint purchase of new ammunition.
If European representatives have rejected Kiev’s criticisms by assuring that the first part had been implemented and that ammunition was massively delivered to Ukraine, the second part has not yet been finalized. EU members have agreed to buy ammunition from companies based in the European bloc or in Norway, which has close economic ties with it. But, according to diplomats, France insists that production be carried out in Europe, faithful to its partisan line of a stronger European defense sector.
This position has angered several EU countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Poland, who have expressed doubts about the ability of European industry to produce enough ammunition in a short time. European representatives and diplomats said they expected a satisfactory agreement for all parties in the coming days. However some had already expressed their optimism on the conclusion of an agreement last week, without this materializing.
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