BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union must find ways to quickly deliver thousands of artillery shells to Ukraine or face the prospect that it could lose the war against Russia, top EU diplomats warned on Monday as ammunition stocks in the national EU armories are dwindling.
“The most important and pressing issue facing the Ukrainian army today is a continuous flow of ammunition,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said before chairing a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers. “If we fail at that, the outcome of the war is really in jeopardy.”
Borrell spoke on a surprise visit by US President Joe Biden to Ukraine.
Borrell said that Russian forces fire about 50,000 artillery shells every day and that Ukraine’s supplies need to be increased to the same level. Other estimates put Ukraine firing up to 6,000 to 7,000 artillery shells a day, about a third of Russia’s total a year after the war began.
The most desirable, Borrell stressed, are 155 mm artillery shells.
Borrell said the discussion would focus on ways to make joint munitions purchases and use a dedicated EU fund to provide additional funding. However, the defense industry needs solid, long-term orders to maintain and expand its production lines and cannot simply ramp up supplies overnight.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that the waiting time for the delivery of “large caliber ammunition has increased from 12 to 28 months” and “orders placed today would not be delivered for two and a half years later.”
Estonia, which shares a border and long history with Russia, is pushing the EU and its NATO allies to provide 1 million artillery shells at an estimated cost of 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion).
“Russia consumes daily (what) the European Union produces per month, and with the current capabilities of the military industry, we can meet the needs of Ukraine (in) about six years, so this is totally unacceptable,” Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told reporters .
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to his western allies to speed up their military support, warning that delays would play into Russia’s hands as the invasion approaches its anniversary on February 24.
NATO understands that Russia has launched a long-awaited offensive in recent weeks, increasing the intensity of attacks in eastern Ukraine while building up forces in the south. Officials have said Ukraine is likely to launch its own counteroffensive in the spring.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Lorne Cook, The Associated Press
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