European Union ministers will meet on Monday to approve a two‑billion‑euro plan to tap their stockpiles and jointly purchase artillery shells for Ukraine. Kyiv has warned that its forces are forced to ration firepower as Russia’s year‑long invasion has turned into a grinding war of attrition. Ukraine has asked the EU for 350,000 shells a month to help its troops hold back Moscow’s onslaught and to enable fresh counter‑offensives later in the year.
Foreign and defence ministers from the bloc’s 27 nations, gathering in Brussels, aim to adopt a multipronged initiative that speeds up supplies and strengthens European defence industries. “Time is of the essence: we need to deliver more artillery ammunition and we need to deliver faster,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
The first part of the plan commits an additional one billion euros ($1.06 billion) of shared funding to encourage EU states to draw on their already stretched ammunition stocks for rapid delivery. The second part allocates another one billion euros to order 155‑mm shells for Ukraine as part of a massive joint procurement effort intended to spur firms to increase production. Buying weaponry together on this scale marks a major new step for the EU, whose long‑standing push for greater defence cooperation has been accelerated by Russia’s war.
Countries have debated details such as whether the EU’s defence agency or individual member states should negotiate the orders and whether purchases should be limited to European producers. EU ambassadors on Sunday resolved the remaining issues, and diplomats said they hope ministers will give their approval at the upcoming talks. Estonia, which originally proposed spending 4 billion euros on shells, pushed for a clear target of 1 million rounds, but other members were reluctant to commit to a specific number for fear of missing the goal.
After a year of drawing down their stockpiles, there are questions about how much ammunition EU countries can share immediately without compromising their own security. “We don’t know, member state by member state, the state of their stocks, but we think that there is still some ammunition available,” an EU official said.
EU nations have already pledged military support worth 12 billion euros to Ukraine, including 3.6 billion euros from a joint fund that covers costs. Since the invasion began in February, 450 million euros from that fund have been used to supply 350,000 shells to Ukraine. Convincing countries to deplete their stocks hinges on assuring them that European industry can ramp up production. Ukraine’s ammunition consumption now far exceeds what its Western backers are manufacturing. Brussels says EU firms need to switch to a “war economy mode” after years of scaling back following the Cold War, but the industry complains that governments have not yet signed the long‑term contracts needed to invest in additional production lines.
The EU hopes that a massive joint order for 155‑mm shells will incentivise companies to expand output. It has begun contacting 15 firms in 11 EU countries that produce the ammunition, urging them to accelerate production. Brussels also plans to remove regulatory bottlenecks, improve access to financing, and possibly provide central EU funds to boost capacity. However, several European diplomats say the proposals remain vague and that more concrete assurances are needed to ensure they will have a real impact.
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