"A matter of life and death": five EU leaders demand that the bloc take Ukraine's arming efforts seriously
Kyiv • UNN
Five EU leaders call on the bloc to fulfill its promises and provide Ukraine with enough weapons
Five EU leaders - Germany, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Estonia and the Netherlands - have called on the bloc to finally take seriously joint efforts to arm Ukraine, the Financial Times reports, according to UNN.
Details
"The EU has failed to deliver on its promises to Ukraine and needs to get serious now about arming Kyiv sufficiently to defeat Russia," five EU leaders said in a joint letter to the Financial Times this morning, the newspaper reports.
As the publication points out, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU provided Ukraine with financial and military support worth about 68 billion euros. "But the flows of weapons and cash have declined, and proposals to upgrade both have stalled," the article says.
Both of these issues will be on the agenda of the emergency summit of EU leaders tomorrow, February 1, in Brussels.
"Ukraine does not have enough artillery ammunition. And military support commitments risk not meeting Ukraine's needs," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and three other EU leaders wrote in their letter.
They point to the promise to supply Ukraine with 1 million artillery shells by the end of March 2024. "The harsh truth is that we have not achieved this goal," they write.
The authors, who also include the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Estonia and the Netherlands, Petr Fiala, Kaja Kallas and Mark Rutte, speak of "our ability to continue to support and sustain Ukraine’s defence... - is a matter of our common European security, and for the brave women and men of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a matter of life and death".
EU countries are reportedly "bargaining" to update the bloc's European Peace Fund, which helps pay for weapons. On the agenda is an increase in its volume by 5 billion euros and a shift from reimbursement by countries for arms supplies to Ukraine to financing arms production.
Any way is good, the authors of the letter argue: "The ways are less important. The ends and means are crucial... We will continue to explore all options and invite allies and partners to co-finance initiatives.
But the sense of urgency is paramount, they add, "because the new orders we place today will not reach the battlefield until next year.
And this is a message to other countries, especially France, which oppose allowing non-EU countries to participate in joint production efforts, the newspaper notes.
"Partner countries can also play an important role and are encouraged to join our collective efforts," the authors state.
