The European Union has supplied Ukraine with more than 980,000 shells for the war with Russia and plans to pass the 1 million mark by the end of this year, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.
The EU initially set out to supply one million 155-mm artillery shells by March 2024 but officials later said production capacity was insufficient to meet the target.
“I know that we made a commitment to reach this level by spring – and we failed. But we can do it by the end of the year,” Borrell told Ukraine’s European Pravda media outlet.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has said that a separate initiative led by Prague will have delivered 500,000 shells to Ukraine by the end of the year.
Ukraine has also been increasing domestic defence production to try to reduce its dependence on military assistance from its allies and ensure timely supplies.
Kyiv’s top arms official said that Ukraine has increased production of mortar shells from zero before Russia’s invasion to millions per year now.
President-elect Trump, who has questioned U.S. military support for Ukraine, says he will quickly end Russia’s war without saying how, raising concerns among U.S. allies he could try to force Kyiv to accept peace on Moscow’s terms. Biden leaves office on January 20.
North Korean troops have begun engaging in combat operations alongside Russian forces, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday, expressing concern that Russia had turned to North Korea for soldiers to fight in its war with Ukraine.
“Over 10,000 DPRK (North Korean) soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia, and most of them have moved to the far western Kursk Oblast, where they have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters at a briefing.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
