The European Union should speed up the delivery of ammunition to Ukraine, which needs 1,000 artillery shells in the Bakhmut region alone, EU foreign affairs and security chief Josep Borrell said on Saturday, as quoted by Reuters.

The European official is in Stockholm, where he is hosting the EU-Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum together with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Bjöllström in the context of Sweden’s presidency of the European Union.

According to Borrell, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, told his European colleagues, with whom he met in Stockholm, that Ukraine needs more support to protect itself from Russian aggression, Agerpres notes.

Answering the question of how the Europeans can act for the faster supply of ammunition to Ukraine, Borrell noted that the member states of the Union can resort to national reserves and must overcome logistical obstacles.

He clarified that Ukraine especially needs long-range munitions, because “the Russians bomb from long distances,” and “the Ukrainians must have the ability to reach (…) the same distances.”

Before the meeting with the European foreign ministers, Kuleba stated the same thing – long-range artillery ammunition should be a priority.

In March, the EU at ministerial level approved a plan worth at least two billion dollars to provide Ukraine with one million artillery shells and missiles over 12 months.

The plan is based on the ability of European countries to send ammunition from existing stocks and future joint orders.

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