EU
For weeks, the EU’s ambition to supply Ukraine with one million artillery shells in one year has been virtually at a standstill. But according to acting Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen after Tuesday’s meeting of defense ministers in Brussels it is realistic to reach the goal of one million artillery shells delivered to Ukraine by March 2024. EU countries have already delivered 220 000 artillery shells to Ukraine in a short period of time. “I consider the goal to be much more realistic now than it might have been a short time ago. Because now things are moving in the right direction,” said Lund Poulsen. While Ukraine has continually fired 155 millimetre shells at Russian forces, EU countries have been moving to get production going. Last week, it was reported that EU countries had sent less than 50,000 artillery shells. But at Tuesday’s defence ministers’ meeting, there was encouraging news. “We have moved a lot in recent days, and there is really good momentum now. More ketchup has come out of the bottle. The fact that we now have 220,000 artillery shells is a substantial contribution compared to where we started,” says Troels Lund Poulsen. /ritzau/