Czechs want EU to shop abroad for Ukraine shells

Europe is falling way short on its pledge to send 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine by March, and the Czechs say it’s high time to look beyond the borders of the EU for supplies, Report informs via POLITICO.

Ukrainian forces on the front lines are warning they are running perilously low on ammunition to take on the Russian invaders in a war dominated by artillery bombardments.

The EU had originally pledged to supply 1 million shells by March, and France led calls for Europe to build up its homegrown industrial prowess to deliver munitions to Kyiv. However, the EU now says 524,000 shells will reach Ukraine by the March deadline, with 1.1 million only promised by the end of the year.

Frustrated by this shortfall, Prague is pushing EU countries to finance the purchase of what it estimates are 450,000 rounds of artillery available outside the bloc, four diplomats and a person familiar with the talks told POLITICO.

When the EU was calibrating its military aid commitments in early 2023, France — the bloc’s defense industry leader — had been pushing to make sure that subsidies were focused only on local production, rather than being funnelled abroad.

But the Czech call raises the prospect that Europe would turn instead to arms companies in South Korea, Türkiye and South Africa. The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell specifically mentioned that Korea — a major weapons producer — could be tapped for extra shells, according to the official.

The EU’s blueprint to boost ammunition supplies includes reimbursing countries with billions of euros through the European Peace Facility for sending shells from existing stockpiles. This would exist along with €1 billion to push joint procurement of ammunition by the European Defence Agency and €500 million to support ammunition production projects.

Now, with Kyiv reeling from the constant attrition of Russia’s assault along a 1,000 kilometer frontline, the country’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov says there’s “shell hunger,” prompting friendly capitals to reconsider their military aid strategy.

One diplomat said the 450,000 figure was pitched during an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels on Wednesday. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala then told his counterparts during Thursday’s EU leaders’ summit that shells could be obtained from outside the EU to help the bloc meet its promise, according to another official briefed on the talks.

The EU is not the only ally failing to deliver. Political gridlock in Washington has also halted US arms flows to Ukraine.

During a visit to Washington on Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told an audience at the Republican-aligned Heritage Foundation that more ammunition is critical to Ukraine’s success on the battlefield.

“The war in Ukraine is more and more a war of attrition,” he said. “And a war of attrition becomes a war of logistics. It’s about producing the weapons, the ammunition … needed to sustain the war effort. And that demonstrates the need to produce ammunition because so far, we are mainly digging into our stocks to supply Ukraine. That cannot continue, that’s not sustainable.”