Latvian President says EU should postpone ammunition sales to third countries and divert ammunition to Ukraine

Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs believes that the European Union should talk to any countries prepared to sell ammunition so that it could be sent to Ukraine.

Source: Edgars Rinkēvičs in an interview with Suspilne, Ukraine's public broadcaster 

Quote: "I know that some so-called third countries are still buying ammunition from European manufacturers. If we could, for example, postpone their purchases because they’re not engaged in active hostilities, then that’s certainly what we should do."

Details: Rinkēvičs said that European institutions have to work closely together with certain countries to do this.

"I would say that I’m not imposing any limits, of course except for Russia’s friends and allies," Latvian President noted.

The European Commission has earlier urged EU countries to put pressure on the defence industry to increase the production of ammunition for Ukraine.

EU governments pledged to send one million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine by the end of March 2024 to help it fight the Russian occupation forces. However, there are concerns that the EU will not be able to fulfil its promise.

Last week, Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, became the first senior EU official to admit that the union may not reach the goal by the end of the year.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius also said the EU would not achieve its goal of delivering one million artillery shells to Ukraine by March 2024. 

Amid concerns that the European Union will not fulfil its promise to supply Ukraine with the promised amount of artillery shells, France has agreed to revise its previous requirement to purchase shells only from European countries.

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