The European Union has secured “two-thirds” of the money necessary to deliver two million artillery shells to Ukraine, High Representative Kaja Kallas said on Monday, urging countries to ramp up their military support as the United States takes a step back.
An estimated €5 billion will be required to meet the target by the end of the year.
“We still don’t have 100% but we definitely need to move forward with that,” Kallas told reporters after a meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Luxembourg.
“A large majority of member states agreed that we need to do more.”
The ammunition initiative is considered the most feasible element of the €40 billion plan that Kallas put forward in March but that EU leaders failed to embrace in its entirety.
The pledges made so far by countries combine actual donations of ammunition and fresh funding for procuring the ammunition, Kallas explained. “It is, of course, commitments but commitments need to be followed,” she said.
The shells should arrive in Ukraine “as soon as possible,” she noted, calling on governments to also provide air defence systems that can help the country repel Russia’s increasingly brutal attacks against civilian population and infrastructure.
The meeting on Monday happened a day after two Russian ballistic missiles struck the city of Sumy as the Christian faithful celebrated Palm Sunday.
At least 34 people were killed and more than 110 were injured.
The devastation has renewed calls for fresh sanctions against the Kremlin. Since February 2022, the bloc has approved 16 packages of restrictions, the last of which was endorsed in the lead-up to the war’s third anniversary.
According to the High Representative, internal work on the 17th package is already underway with the goal of presenting ministers with a fleshed-out proposal in May.
“If you want the killing to stop, you should put the pressure on Russia, which actually does the killing,” Kallas said.
Asked if the next package should target Russian exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which remain unspared, Kallas replied doing so would help cripple the Kremlin’s war machine but admitted unanimity might be impossible to secure.
Poland, the Nordics and the Baltics are among those who have repeatedly demanded a halt in purchases of Russian LNG, which last year totalled €7 billion across the bloc.
“Putting the sanctions on oil and gas and putting more on that side would have a bigger effect because this is how they’re funding the war,” Kallas said.
“The discussions are ongoing but you know very well we need 27 countries to agree. But my point is that we should put as a strong package together as possible, hopefully also with our international partners.”
Diplomats in Brussels expect the next round of sanctions to be immediately resisted by Hungary. Budapest has become increasingly critical of economic restrictions, going as far as threatening to block their renewal.
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