“Soldiers on the front line are awaiting this decision”: Ukraine’s foreign minister on increasing EU ammunition supplies

Ukraine expects the European Union to increase artillery shell supplies in the shortest term as the parties have a specific understanding of what needs to be done. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated this at a press conference with his Portuguese counterpart, João Gomes Cravinho, who is visiting Ukraine, Rubryka reports.

"We discussed the ways in which the European Union can increase artillery shell supplies to Ukraine in the necessary quantity," said the Ukrainian foreign affairs chief.

Kuleba also welcomed the active position of the European Union in finding these solutions.

"I can say right away that Ukrainian soldiers on the front line are awaiting this decision and will be grateful to every European country that contributes to ensuring that as many artillery shells as possible reach Ukraine in the shortest possible time," the Ukrainian foreign minister said.

EU ammunition supply to Ukraine 

On May 3 last year, the EU Council approved a decision to allocate €1 billion in assistance for joint purchases of ammunition and missiles for Ukraine.

The procurement plan envisaged the allocation of €1 billion to compensate member states for supplies and another billion for joint purchases of ammunition and increasing production capacities in the EU.

On November 14, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius admitted that the European Union could not provide Ukraine with a million artillery shells by March 2024.

However, on January 11, the European Commission stated that the EU could produce one million ammunition for Ukraine by the end of winter 2024.

Later, it became known that over the past months, the European Union has significantly increased ammunition production and will increase this capacity to 1 million per year by March of this year and 2 million by 2025.

However, information on how many shells Ukraine received is sensitive in wartime conditions and may be known only by one person — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.