BRUSSELS, Mar 7 EU defense ministers at an informal meeting on March 7-8 in Stockholm they will discuss military assistance to Ukraine, as well as hold talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and a UN representative.
According to the representative office of Sweden, currently chairing the EU, the meeting starts on March 7 with a gala dinner and will continue on March 8.
«During the first meeting, the ministers will discuss military support for Ukraine, in particular the training mission for the Ukrainian military. The mission command will present a status report at the meeting. A representative from Ukraine will also attend the meeting. The defense ministers will also discuss funding for the purchase of artillery ammunition to support Ukraine» , — stated in the statement of Sweden.
The document notes that one of the meetings of the heads of the EU Defense Ministry will be devoted to communication with representatives of the UN and NATO. Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed his participation in the meeting in Stockholm on March 8.
The Belgian publication LeSoir reported that the European Union has developed a plan to stimulate the supply of NATO-standard ammunition to Ukraine both in the short term and in the long term, and has also prepared proposals for replenishing the arsenals of European armies by increasing production and joint purchases.
The first point of the plan to increase military deliveries to Kyiv provides for the urgent dispatch of ammunition that is already in the warehouses. The second point of the EU plan provides for efforts to replenish the empty depots of European armies.
As expected, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, will voice these proposals at the upcoming informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Stockholm. This plan can be approved at the upcoming EU summit on March 23-24 after discussion at the level of defense and foreign ministers of the community.
Earlier, EU Foreign Service Representative Nabilya Massrali reported that the EU countries supplied Ukraine with a total of 11.5 billion euros worth of weapons, taking into account all-European funding (excluding a new tranche of 500 million euros) and bilateral supplies.
Russia sent a note to NATO countries over arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect.