Eight months late, EU partners to supply Kyiv with one million artillery shells

Brussels – Better late than never, the saying goes. It is a saying that pretty well sums up the Western—certainly European—approach toward providing military aid to Ukraine in its resistance to Russian aggression, which has now lasted more than two and a half years. According to sources inside the EU executive, Brussels is on target to deliver one million artillery shells to Kyiv. But the original deadline was last March.

A senior Union External Action Service official confirmed during a press briefing in preparation for the Foreign Affairs Council on November 18 that by the end of the year, the goal of delivering to the Ukrainian army one million artillery shells to defend against Russian attacks will be met. Production would have touched 98 per cent of the ammunition in question. A target that should have been achieved eight months ago, in March, according to commitments made initially by the Twenty-Seven.

Albeit belatedly, then, Brussels will supply Kyiv with the ammunition it needs just before the inauguration of the new U.S. president, Donald Trump, takes place, a handover that is generating much insecurity about the future of the conflict. The High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, anticipated this during a visit to the former Soviet republic’s capital, though he did not go into detail about the figures cited today by the
EU diplomatic service official. The initiative is part of the European Peace Facility (EPF) and was approved by the Council in May 2023.