"A matter of life and death": Five EU leaders call for increased support for Ukraine

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Danish PM Mette Frederiksen, Czech Republic PM Petr Fiala, Estonian PM Kaja Kallas and the Netherlands' PM Mark Rutte have written a joint letter calling for collective efforts to provide long-term support to Ukraine.

Source: A letter published by the Financial Times, as reported by European Pravda.

"We call on friends and partners of Ukraine to recommit to sustainable long-term military support for Ukraine as a joint European responsibility. This decision must be taken by each and every country. Only then will Ukraine be able to succeed in its defence against Russian aggression," the officials said in their statement.

The leaders of the five countries insist that the EU and its member states must renew their efforts and increase military support. As they said, the burden is so great that all states must do everything possible to support Ukraine – it must remain a collective effort.

"At the beginning of last year, the EU committed itself to an ambitious goal of supplying Ukraine with 1mn artillery rounds before the end of March 2024. The hard truth: we have fallen short of this goal," the letter reads.

In their address, the leaders stressed the need to "immediately" provide Kyiv with ammunition and weapons systems, including howitzers, tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles and air defence systems, as new orders placed today will not reach the battlefield until next year.

To this end, they insist on finding ways to speed up the delivery of the promised artillery shells to Ukraine using existing stockpiles or jointly procuring ammunition through European defence companies, which requires expanding industrial capacity through framework procurement contracts and sustained investment by EU member states.

"Partner countries could play an important role as well and are invited to join in our collective effort... Our ability to continue to support and sustain Ukraine’s defence, both during the winter and in the longer term, is decisive. In fact, it is a matter of our common European security, and for the brave women and men of the Ukrainian armed forces a question of life and death," the letter reads.

The leaders of the five countries noted that Russia is waiting for no one, so it is necessary to act now.

"If Ukraine loses, the long-term consequences and costs will be much higher for all of us. We Europeans have a special responsibility. Therefore, we must act. Europe’s future depends on it," they urged.

Background: 

• Earlier, Olaf Scholz called on European countries to increase arms supplies to Ukraine, fearing that US aid could stop.
• Prior to that, it was reported that the German chancellor wants to use the EU summit on 1 February to urge partners to send more weapons to Ukraine.
• Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba repeated that he was confident that the US Congress would approve supplemental funding for Ukraine despite the differences between the two parties on the issue of migration.

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