EU defence ministers to hear their Ukrainian counterpart and discuss supplying Ukraine with ammunition

A meeting of EU foreign ministers to be held on 7 and 8 March in Brussels will discuss the needs of the Ukrainian army and ways to speed up the supply of ammunition and artillery to Ukraine.

Source: A representative of the Swedish government, which currently holds the presidency of the EU Council, as reported by European Pravda, citing Interfax-Ukraine

Quote: "The first session will be dedicated to EU support for Ukraine and will consist of three parts. During the first part, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov will brief EU ministers on the latest course of events on the ground and on the most important priorities and needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. We hope that he will be able to attend the meeting in person," he said.

Details: According to the journalists' source, the second part will be devoted to a discussion of the EU-Ukraine Training Mission, during which representatives of Poland and Germany will report on "the progress of training, and the challenges and opportunities for the military undergoing training in this mission."

"In the third part, the ministers will discuss the possibility of speeding up the supply and production of artillery ammunition that Ukraine urgently needs, we will discuss joint procurement and how we will accelerate the capabilities of European industry to produce ammunition," added the Swedish representative.

Commenting on the timing of the initiative’s approval on joint procurement of ammunition, the source noted that many aspects of the initiative still need to be discussed.

"I think that 20 March [the next meeting of EU foreign ministers] is an ambitious but realistic date when we hope a decision can be made to be confirmed by the European Council a few days later," he added.

Background: Last week, the Financial Times, citing an EU source, reported that almost all EU countries had agreed on a plan drawn up in Brussels to quickly supply Ukraine with scarce artillery ammunition that could be delivered within weeks.

At the time, EU defence ministers were expected to finalise the plan at a meeting on 7-8 March before the bloc's leaders meet on 23-24 March.

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