EU Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas said there was progress on the agreement to provide Ukraine with 2 million shells worth EUR 5 billion. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said this after arriving at an informal meeting of EU defense ministers as part of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Warsaw on Thursday, UNN reports.
Today we are going to discuss with European defense ministers what else we can do to help Ukraine, and also what we can do very quickly for our own defense.
She recalled that the European Commission has proposed a White Paper on Defense, the Preparedness 2030 initiative - "that is, how we can prepare". "Of course, there are many elements that need to be discussed when it comes to funding, when it comes to joint procurement, and when it comes to flagship projects," the EU's chief diplomat said.
"So I am looking forward to thorough and intensive discussions today," Kallas said.
Regarding a possible agreement today on 2 million shells for Ukraine, Kallas noted: "These things are progressing very well."
I want to say: we need to provide assistance to Ukraine as soon as possible. President Zelenskyy said that they need [€]5 billion to have at least 2 million shells. And I am glad to see that in fact we already have different proposals - or different countries are making their contributions to this. So we already have more than 50% of what is needed. Today, I also expect countries to announce what else they can do and what else they will actually do in the short term to help Ukraine, because the stronger they are on the battlefield, the stronger they are at the negotiating table.
Recall
On March 17, EU Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas said that the EU is discussing details of new assistance to Ukraine at the level of up to EUR 40 billion.
On March 20, Kaja Kallas said before a special summit of the bloc that if the EU cannot decide right now on assistance to Ukraine for the entire next year, against the backdrop of a proposal for assistance of up to EUR 40 billion, then work is underway right now on a EUR 5 billion plan for ammunition for Ukraine, which she called "realistic."
On March 20, at the EU summit, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine needs funds for artillery shells, and Kyiv would be grateful for European support in the amount of at least EUR 5 billion in the shortest possible time.
At the same time, Bloomberg reported that discussions in Brussels at the March 20 summit showed that allocating EUR 5 billion to purchase 2 million artillery shells would not be an easy task. And that the efforts of EU leaders to provide EUR 5 billion to provide ammunition to Ukraine this year were delayed by France and Italy.
The European Commission recently indicated that Ukraine's request for 2 million artillery shells is the focus of their work, and this is what the European Commission is focused on in terms of "next concrete steps and results."
The defense ministers of the EU member states were to discuss Kallas' initiative to strengthen support for Ukraine from the EU at an informal meeting in the capital of the EU presidency, Poland, on April 2-3, against the backdrop of her proposal to allocate EUR 5 billion for artillery shells for Ukraine.