Several European Union countries will sign an agreement on Monday to jointly purchase artillery shells for Ukraine as part of an effort to speed up and increase the supply of ammunition needed by the armed forces to fight the Russian invasion.
A senior EU official has said many of the bloc’s 27 countries are expected to sign a so-called ‘project’ agreement which sets out the terms of reference for the plan, but the exact number of these states is unclear as some of them are still studying the proposal.
A pact on joint purchases of 155mm artillery shells will be signed on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers in Brussels next Monday (March 20), officials said. The first orders according to plan can be placed by the end of May.
“This deal was done very, very quickly,” a senior EU official said in a press briefing on Friday. “All Member States (EU) and Norway can participate.”
In recent weeks, Ukrainian and Western leaders have warned that Kiev is running out of shells faster than its allies can produce. A major joint ammunition procurement initiative will be an important step towards Ukraine’s integration into the EU, since defense procurement is largely the prerogative of the bloc’s national governments.
The project, which will be launched on Monday, will be piloted by the European Defense Agency. EU officials say the move should lead to more one-off orders for defense companies, encouraging them to invest in more capacity and reducing competition between governments that drive up prices in a bid to win contracts. similar commands.
The initiative is part of a plan presented by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to allocate 1 billion euros to reimburse EU countries for sending shells from their own stocks to Ukraine and an additional EUR 1 billion for joint purchases.
Diplomats said EU governments were still squabbling over key details on Friday due to disagreements over how the plan should work and a lack of clarity over the amount of ammunition in national stockpiles. Ambassadors to the EU will meet on Sunday to agree details of the comprehensive plan so that it can be approved by foreign ministers on Monday, diplomats said.
Representatives of the European Union say that after that it will be at least a few more months before the shells ordered under joint purchases go to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. However, knowing that large joint purchases are currently underway should encourage member countries to send more of their current stocks to Kiev.
The money for this will come from the European Peace Fund, which has already funded 3.6 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion. Joint EU purchases will also aim to replenish the arsenals of Western countries that have been severely depleted due to the supply of shells to Ukraine.
