The European Union has delivered 223,800 shells to Ukraine as part of the first part of a plan to provide one million artillery shells to help Kiev against Russia, a spokesman said Friday.
In March, the EU approved a two-billion-euro plan to send one million 155mm shells to Ukraine from member states’ stocks this year and fund joint ammunition purchases for Kyiv.
Ukrainian forces are complaining of an ammunition shortage as they attempt to dislodge Moscow troops from occupied territories, as part of a counter-offensive launched in early June.
Under the first phase of the plan, which runs from February 9 to May 31, €1 billion has been earmarked to reimburse EU member states for around half the cost of shells supplied from of their existing arsenals.
“Member states delivered approximately 223,800 artillery munitions (long-range self-propelled artillery, precision-guided munitions and mortar munitions) and 2,300 missiles of all types,” said EU spokesman Peter Stano.
The total value of the ammunition supplied amounts to 1.1 billion euros, according to the EU.
At the end of May, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced that 200,000 shells had been delivered by that date.
The European Union and its member states seem far from having reached the target of one million shells for next spring.
In February, several European capitals were skeptical about the ability to supply a million shells.
Under the second part of the plan, the EU defense agency is negotiating joint purchase contracts with European manufacturers of 155mm ammunition.
The EU “expects framework contracts with industry to be signed in the coming weeks, which will allow member states to place orders from then on.”
Any contract must be concluded before the end of September to fall under the EU supply plan.
In total, the EU and its member states claim to have spent some 20 billion euros supplying arms to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
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As of July 25, the United States has pledged more than $43.7 billion to Ukraine in security assistance, according to the Pentagon.
On Thursday, the White House asked Congress for an additional $13 billion for new military spending on Ukraine.
This article is originally published on lesoir.be
