European Union delivers more than 200,000 artillery shells to Ukraine

Europe, News August 15, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

European Union delivered more than 223,800 self-propelled long-range artillery shells to Ukraine and pledged to spend $2 billion to deliver over one million shells to Ukraine over the course of 12 months.

The recent delivery was made on August 12, 2023, and was arranged under the new military assistance package by the EU that aims to strengthen Kyiv’s arsenal against Russia.

EU spokesperson Peter Stano announced that the EU member states have collectively delivered 223,800 artillery shells, hundreds of mortar munitions as well as 2,300 missiles of various kinds. Stano stated that the overall value of the ordinance is estimated to be more than $1 billion.

The current batch of EU’s artillery shells makes up only for a quarter of the target that member states have set for themselves, leaving the bloc and its members a long way off their target of one million shells by next spring.

EU countries to send one million artillery shells to Ukraine

To support Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia, the 27 nations of the European Union had pledged to increase the supply of much-needed artillery shells to Kyiv. According to a plan devised by the European Commission in March this year, the member states agreed to spend $2 billion for the production and provision of at least one million artillery shells for Ukraine over the course of 12 months.

The bloc devised the number based on estimates provided by Ukrainian military sources. The Ukrainian officials have requested the EU to send 250,000 artillery rounds to the Ukrainian Armed Forces every month to reduce its ammunition deficit. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov estimated that Kyiv needs a total of one million shells in the next 12 months to support its counteroffensive operation.

The supply chain issue and logistics problems surrounding the production of such numbers of munition have become a major challenge for the EU member states. The European defense industry, which is already struggling due to decades of underinvestment, would barely be able to meet the unprecedented target.

Where several officials from the EU member states are skeptical about meeting the target of one million artillery shells, Brussels is willing to utilize the opportunity to revive the European defense industry.

*^{Ukrainian soldiers firing toward Russian troops during a counteroffensive operation. (Image Credit: Twitter/@ZelenskyyUa)}*

“When it comes to defense, our industry must now switch to war economy mode,” said EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said in his remarks. “The act we are proposing is unprecedented. It aims to directly support, with EU money, the ramp-up of our defense industry for Ukraine and for our own security,” he said.

Under the second part of the same plan, the EU’s defense agency is negotiating a joint procurement contract with European manufacturers for 155-mm howitzer shells and missiles to be sent to Ukraine. The EU officials said that they expect “framework contracts with industry to be signed in the coming weeks, allowing member states to place orders from then on.”