The EU plan to supply Ukraine with 1m artillery shells is doomed to failure, Die Welt has reported. This was stated by the head of the German defense ministry, Boris Pistorius, at the summit of European defense ministers in Brussels. Moreover, he stressed that he had doubts about this plan at the beginning of the year, as the EU does not have enough production capacity for its implementation.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius believes that the EU will not be able to fulfil its plan to supply Ukraine with 1 million artillery shells by next spring, Die Welt reports.
“The one million mark will not be reached. We have to proceed from that,” he told a summit of European defense ministers in Brussels. So far, only 300,000 rounds of ammunition have reached Kiev, the German publication notes.
Pistorius attributes the failure of the plan to the lack of necessary production capacity. According to him, the framework agreements concluded by Germany have largely helped to increase production, but the processes “are what they are”. Even the transition to a military economy will not lead to the desired jump in performance, stressed the head of the defense ministry.
The minister also made it clear that he had doubts about the feasibility of the plan back in March. “I did not promise a million – and I did it consciously,” he explained. Other experts echoed him: “Careful, it is easy to agree on the delivery of a million shells, and there is money, but there must be production capacity.” As a result, the cautionary voices were right.
Now the question has arisen: “Who is responsible for the failure of the plans?” And there is no agreement on the answer. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell believes that the problem is not a lack of production capacity, but that ammunition is going to other markets. According to him, 40 per cent of the manufactured products are exported to third countries.
His words were echoed by Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market. He urged the EU member states to make sure that the products manufactured on their territory are primarily intended for Ukraine. According to him, the union will be able to produce more than 1m ammunition annually by next spring.
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