EU claims to produce up to 2 million shells for Ukraine annually
European Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn (Photo: (Getty Images)
The European Union will be able to produce up to 2 million artillery munitions annually for Ukraine starting from 2025, according to the European Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn in an interview with Augsburger Allgemeine.
Hahn said that European countries could transfer up to half a million munitions by March (when the EU promised to transfer a million shells to Ukraine).
"We will already be able to supply 500,200 artillery shells by the set date - March," the EU commissioner said.
At the same time, Hahn emphasized that EU production capacities are expanding, so as early as next year, they can produce up to 2 million shells.
"By the end of the year, we will have such large production capacities that we will be able to produce two million artillery shells starting next year," he added.
The EU commissioner acknowledged that the EU could not fulfill its promise of a million artillery munitions for Ukraine due to production problems.
"Artillery ammunition has always been produced only according to demand. That's why we have cut back a lot of production capacities in the past, and now we have to build them up again," Hahn noted.
A million shells for Ukraine
In early May 2023, the EU Council approved a decision to assist Ukraine in the amount of one billion euros for joint procurement of ammunition and missiles.
It was planned that European countries would provide Ukraine with a million shells by March 2024. It is now known that EU countries could not fully implement the plan. According to Bloomberg, by March, the EU will be able to provide Ukraine with 600,000 munitions.
Today, on February 1, during his address to the European Council, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskнy emphasized that Europe should not lose global competition. He reminded that North Korea supplies Russia with a million shells.
