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Europe stepped up efforts on Tuesday to bolster Ukraine’s stretched military as Germany and the EU unveiled plans to fast-track supplies to help resist Russia’s invasion.
Berlin announced a new €500mn military aid package to replenish Kyiv’s artillery stocks, while Brussels laid out how it would use the vast majority of profits earned from immobilised Russian assets to purchase weapons for Ukraine.
With a $60bn US aid package for Ukraine stuck in Congress, European states have been racing over the past few months to put together alternative support packages. Meanwhile, Ukraine has faced an increasingly severe shortage of artillery shells and other ammunition as it fights Russian forces with a significant firepower advantage.
Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius said the new package, which is part of an already announced €8bn support budget for 2024, includes 10,000 rounds of ammunition from Bundeswehr inventories and that deliveries would begin immediately.
Pistorius also said on Tuesday that Germany would join a Czech initiative to urgently buy ammunition for Ukraine, covering the cost of acquiring 180,000 rounds.
He added that Berlin had also signed contracts for an additional 100,000 155mm shells that will be delivered to Ukraine, with supplies beginning this year. In addition, Germany will send 100 infantry fighting vehicles and 100 high-performance logistics vehicles.
The German move came as the EU pushed ahead with a proposal to use money earned from Russian sovereign assets frozen after Moscow’s invasion to buy weapons, despite misgivings among some European capitals.
A plan tabled by the EU’s foreign and security chief calls for 90 per cent of the earnings on the immobilised assets — expected to be €3bn in 2024 — to be diverted to the bloc’s European Peace Facility. The EPF, which spends most of its money financing weapons for Ukraine, is funded directly by member states outside the EU’s joint budget.
The remaining 10 per cent would be given to Ukraine through the EU budget for reconstruction and investments in Ukraine’s defence industry. The plan must be agreed by all EU countries; the issue will be discussed at a summit of EU leaders that begins on Thursday.
The mechanism chosen means that not all of the cash will directly buy weapons for Ukraine, a concession intended to appease countries with reservations such as Hungary, Malta, Cyprus and Slovakia.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, told reporters that the proposal’s structure should be enough for those countries to accept “their share” of the funding would not be used to buy weapons for Kyiv.
“Ukraine will receive money both for immediate military support, providing arms, and to build the capacity of their defence industry,” he said. “There are still some member states who are showing some concern.”
While initially controversial, the idea of tapping revenues that have been earned from the immobilised Russian assets has gained momentum as western allies — most notably the US — have struggled to maintain support for Kyiv.
Support for weapons has overtaken a previous suggestion to use the funds for Ukraine’s reconstruction as Kyiv’s military position has deteriorated.
The EU’s proposal concerns profits arising from €190bn in Russian assets held at Belgian central security depository Euroclear. If approved, the first disbursement could happen as early as July. The total profits siphoned from Euroclear could reach €20bn by 2027, according to EU officials.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
