The European Union wants to accelerate the production of ammunition to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression. This was stated in an exclusive interview with Radio Liberty by European Council President Charles Michel, UNN reports.
"European leaders are aware of the need to make it clear... that we support Ukraine in the long term. The same applies to military equipment. We have decided to introduce what we call the European Peace Facility to encourage greater military support for Ukraine in coordination with our member states. There is a common political will to improve the instrument, to improve the mechanism, based on the basis that we want to provide more missiles, more ammunition through the EU and bilateral assistance," Michel said.
The President of the European Council acknowledged that in the past, the EU had underestimated the importance of investing in its own defense capabilities. Their development is to be discussed at the leaders' summit scheduled for December 14-15.
"We strongly advocate for the expansion of industrial cooperation to create a strong industrial base in the EU. This means that in the short term we need to invest more. We need more enlargement, we need to have more European opportunities to help Ukraine, and we need more tools in our hands to do more deterrence. This is the first point. But in parallel, we need to work in the medium and long term to build these industrial bases," the top official emphasized.
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At this week's summit, EU leaders also plan to consider providing Ukraine with 20 billion euros over the next four years to finance its military needs.