STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) – Shortly before a meeting of the defense ministers of the EU states in Sweden, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized the need for additional military aid for Ukraine. The urgent need to increase and maintain support was discussed, Stoltenberg said on Tuesday evening during talks with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Stockholm. “It’s become a war of attrition, so it’s also a battle for logistics.” It is important that production is now increased.
In this context, Stoltenberg welcomed the fact that EU countries are working on joint procurement of ammunition. NATO has had joint procurement for years, he said.
The defense ministers of the 27 EU countries want to discuss further ammunition deliveries to Ukraine at a meeting this Wednesday in a conference center near Stockholm. The background is in particular fears that the country attacked by Russia could no longer have sufficient artillery shells available in the future. In February, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said at an EU ministerial meeting that Ukraine was running out of bullets.
In order to provide Ukraine with the urgently needed ammunition, consideration is currently being given to reimbursing member states willing to supply a significantly higher proportion of the costs from EU funds than has been the case up to now. Another billion euros could be made available for this purpose. Stoltenberg is invited as a guest to the ministerial deliberations./aha/DP/he