Ukraine desperately needs the heavy artillery ammunition to hold its own against the less-restricted Russian invasion forces and expected them by February at the latest. But “the 1 million will not be reached, we have to assume that,” Pistorius said on Tuesday upon arriving in Brussels for consultations with his EU colleagues. According to him, the question is whether that promise was ever realistic.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell also acknowledges that the union may not achieve the target. Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren does not want to draw that conclusion yet, but would find it painful. “Ukraine is dependent on the promises we make, that we actually deliver. Ukraine must be able to count on the steady supply of the ammunition they need.”
Ukraine has now received more than 300,000 grenades that the EU countries still had in stock, according to Borrell. But they don’t have much more and it now comes down to extra production. However, it is not easy to achieve this in the short term.
“The contracts have been signed, the orders are in progress,” says Ollongren. “Delivery must be made as soon as possible.”
LOOK. NATO and UK previously warned: “Western allies are running out of ammunition to give to Ukraine”
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