Ukraine's Defence Minister asks EU to send Ukraine 250,000 artillery shells a month

Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s Defence Minister, has written a letter appealing to the EU to send Ukraine 250,000 artillery shells a month.

Source: Financial Times, with reference to Reznikov’s letter

Details: The Financial Times writes that Ukraine appealed to the EU to send Kyiv 250,000 artillery shells a month to ease a critical shortage that is limiting its progress on the battlefield.

In a letter to his counterparts in the 27 member states, Reznikov wrote that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are only firing a fifth of the rounds they could have because of lack of supplies.

Reznikov wrote that artillery plays a "crucial role in eliminating the enemy’s military power". On average, Ukraine was firing 110,000 155mm-calibre shells a month, he said — a quarter of the amount used by Russia.

"If we were not limited by the amount of available artillery shells, we could use the full ammunition set, which is 594,000 shells per month," he said, referring to the capacity of the artillery systems available to Ukraine.

"According to our estimates, for the successful execution of battlefield tasks, the minimum need is at least 60 per cent of the full ammunition set, or 356,400 shells per month."

The request far exceeds the help the EU is discussing sending, underlining the size of the task facing Kyiv as its war with Russia enters a second year.

Background:

• The Financial Times wrote that all EU member states and Norway were likely to agree with a Brussels-led plan to send to Ukraine munitions which are in short supply there within weeks.
• According to the plan, the EU will spend €1bn in the next few months to partly reimburse member countries for the cost of donated ammunition. Groups of the bloc’s states would then place fresh joint orders with arms manufacturers to boost the supply and replenish their own stocks.

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