Germany is secretly negotiating with India, a country friendly to Russia, regarding the purchase of shells for Ukraine through intermediaries, writes Der Spiegel, Meduza reports.

The German publication notes that India has “several hundred thousand” artillery shells in its stockpile, and the negotiations are being held in secret, as India “still maintains friendly relations with Moscow.”

Der Spiegel also suggests that similar agreements in the interests of Ukraine are possible, in particular, with Arab countries.

Some of them have large stocks of ammunition. Experts interviewed by the German newspaper believe that the Balkans and several African countries have opportunities for the production of ammunition.

Germany and India do not comment on German media reports about these talks.

Last year, state media reported that Russia had sold $13 billion worth of arms to India over the past five years, and that New Delhi had orders for Russian military equipment and weapons worth more than $10 billion, according to Reuters.

India is Russia’s largest arms buyer, accounting for about 20 percent of Moscow’s current orders, and New Delhi has not directly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In December, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Moscow and New Delhi had made concrete progress in negotiations on the joint production of military equipment, news.ro reported.

Sergey Lavrov stated at the press conference that such cooperation is of a strategic nature, meets the interests of both countries and will contribute to ensuring security on the Eurasian continent.

He noted that Moscow respects India’s desire to diversify its suppliers of military equipment and is ready to support the desire of the authorities in New Delhi to produce in India what the country needs.

In March 2023, the EU committed to supply Ukraine with one million artillery shells within a year, first from existing stockpiles and then through joint procurement contracts and increased industrial capacity.

At the end of January 2024, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that by March EU countries would be able to supply Ukraine with only a little more than 500,000 shells. In 10 months, the EU managed to supply Kyiv with only 330,000 shells, Borrell noted.

The head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, said that about half of the weapons promised to Ukraine by Western partners were not delivered on time.