The European Union will not achieve its goal of delivering one million artillery shells to Ukraine within a year, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell admitted on Wednesday, quoted by DPA and Agerpres agencies.

Defending the EU effort as a “work in progress”, Borrell said deliveries to Ukraine would now reach 524,000. This is only 52% of the target, Borrell told a news conference after an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels.

It has set a new target of more than a million rounds by the end of 2024, with 630,000 rounds in production, according to EU member states.

European Union member states have pledged to supply Ukraine with one million 155mm rounds to counter a Russian invasion by March 2024, but have struggled to meet the delivery deadline over the past year.

On March 20, 2023, EU countries promised to supply Ukraine with one million new artillery shells within 12 months.

They were to be organized from the reserves of the EU countries, as well as through new joint public procurement projects in order to prevent shortages in the Ukrainian armed forces.

However, new EU military aid commitments to Kyiv have been blocked in recent months as the EU bloc seeks to strengthen its arms production capabilities.

In November, at a preliminary meeting of EU defense ministers, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the EU bloc would fail. “The target of one million will not be reached, we have to accept that,” he said.

The EU wants a detailed list of military aid provided to Ukraine

In this context, the European Union on Wednesday turned to 27 member states with a request for a detailed list of their military aid provided to Ukraine, said the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, believing that “it is important to clarify the situation”, reports AFP. .

The Europeans have already delivered about 300,000 shells, and by the end of 2024 their annual production capacity will be about 1.4 million shells, said Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Defense Industry. By 2025, this capacity will be increased to 2 million.

But a large part is exported to third countries to the detriment of Ukraine, which is in the midst of a war, a high-ranking European official admitted this week on condition of anonymity, the French press agency notes.

Germany provided half of European aid. Scholz’s call

Borrell’s admission that the goal was not achieved came as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on other EU member states to provide more military support to Ukraine.

Military support for Ukraine “cannot depend on Germany alone,” Scholz said ahead of a crucial EU summit to help Ukraine in its ongoing war against a full-scale Russian invasion.

Scholz noted that Germany has given Ukraine more than any other country after the USA, half of all European aid to Ukraine.

“And if we were the ones who had to do most of it, it wouldn’t be enough for Ukraine. We want more countries to play an active role in providing support,” said Scholz, who signed an editorial published in the Financial Times on Wednesday along with four other EU heads of government.

“We must redouble our efforts to ensure that our support lasts as long as needed,” write Olaf Scholz, Mette Frederiksen (Denmark), Petr Fiala (Czech Republic), Kaja Kallas (Estonia) and Mark Rutte (Netherlands). AFP reports.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi also called on Germany to use its economic and diplomatic influence to mobilize European partners. “Germany can succeed in consolidating (supporting) the EU,” he said in an interview with German public broadcaster ARD on Sunday.

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