Efforts by European Union leaders to provide Ukraine with 5 billion euros to secure ammunition for Ukraine this year have been delayed by France and Italy, citing European diplomats, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, UNN writes.
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"While most of the 27 member states that met in Brussels on Thursday rallied around allocating critical funding for military assistance, France and Italy are slow-walking commitments to specific financial volumes," diplomats said, granted anonymity to discuss closed-door talks.
Discussions in Brussels on Thursday, the newspaper writes, showed that allocating 5 billion euros for the purchase of 2 million artillery shells will not be an easy task. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she is still keen for leaders to sign up to at least part of the plan.
Kallas earlier put forward a proposal for EU members to provide up to 40 billion euros in military aid this year, increasing aid after 20 billion euros was provided to Ukraine in 2024. The aid will be voluntary, but participants will be encouraged to contribute funds or equipment in proportion to their economic situation. After several countries refused, the discussion was narrowed down to the ammunition component this week, the newspaper writes.
According to diplomats, "France and Italy, the EU's second and third largest economies, were reluctant to release overly large figures."
According to Italian diplomats, Italy and other countries are asking for more technical and financial details and say that the initiative is still being worked on. French diplomats said that while they share the goals of the effort, the priority is to implement the EU's 18 billion euro tranche of the G7 loan package for Ukraine.