Pistorius confirms that the EU will not be able to provide Ukraine with 1 million shells by March
However, this prompted countries to place more orders and companies to invest in weapons production
The European Union will not be able to provide Ukraine with the planned one million artillery shells and missiles by March next year, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.
Source. This was reported by Reuters.
Arriving at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels, Pistorius expressed doubts that this goal had been realized in principle.
The agency notes that Pistorius' comment was the first public admission by a senior European minister that the shell target would not be met, although diplomats and officials have been talking about it privately for the past few months.
The goal was set in March of this year because of Ukraine's dire need for 155mm artillery shells.
"I did not promise a million shells, and this was quite deliberate. It is more correct to ask whether this million was a realistic goal," Pistorius told reporters.
"There were voices warning: "It is better to be careful, it is easy to talk about a million, we have the money, but we need a level of production." Unfortunately, these voices were right," he said.
"It is safe to say that the goal of one million shells will not be achieved," Pistorius added.
According to Reuters, despite warnings that the European industry does not have the capacity to produce one million shells, some officials believe that setting such an ambitious goal is correct. In their view, it has encouraged countries to place more production orders and companies to invest in capacity building.
The other ministers who attended the meeting were not as radical as Pistorius, but they did not contradict him either.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the bloc had provided more than 300,000 artillery shells and missiles under the first part of the plan, under which countries transferred ammunition from their stockpiles. According to him, the focus is now on the second stage – EU countries are placing joint orders for the production of artillery shells for Ukraine.
Background. Earlier, Borrell said that the European Union would not be able to compensate for US aid to Ukraine if it was stopped.
If you have read this article to the end, we hope that means it was useful for you.
We work to ensure that our journalistic and analytical work is of high quality, and we strive to perform it as competently as possible. This also requires financial independence. Support us for only UAH 196 per month.
Become a Mind subscriber for just USD 5 per month and support the development of independent business journalism!
You can unsubscribe at any time in your LIQPAY account or by sending us an email: [email protected]
