EU foreign policy chief proposes $1B scheme for members to supply ammo to Ukraine

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) — The EU's foreign policy chief on Wednesday proposed to supply Ukraine with an immediate €1 billion ($1.05 billion) worth of ammunition from member states' reserves.

The next few weeks will be "critical" for Ukraine's war effort as the "military situation on the ground remains very difficult," Josep Borrell told reporters in Stockholm.

At an informal meeting held before the press conference, Borrell presented EU defense ministers a plan to supply ammunition to Kyiv and ramp up military production in the EU.

As a first step to the plan based on "three pillars," he proposed to dedicate €1 billion from the European Peace Facility to EU member states that immediately send 155-mm or 152-mm ammunition to Ukraine from their own stockpiles.

To provide Kyiv with further support, he explained, EU countries should use the already existing European Defense Agency for common procurements that could also be subsidized by the European Peace Facility.

As for the third pillar, the bloc should support Europe's defense industry to boost manufacturing capacities in the longer term, Borrell said, stressing that "there is a continuity between these three tracks."

"EU member states are encouraged to dig further in their stocks if they received the guarantee that they can replenish their stocks because the European defense industry will ramp up its capacities," he further said.

EU diplomats will discuss the details of the proposal in coming weeks.

According to Borrell's expectations, EU foreign and defense ministers will reach a final agreement at their jumbo meeting on March 20-21 because "everybody agrees on the objective which is to support Ukraine as much as possible and as quickly as possible."