BRUSSELS, Mar 8 EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that he would offer the heads of the EU Defense Ministry to supply Kiev with ammunition already available in Europe's warehouses, «this can be done within a few weeks.»
An informal meeting of the heads of the EU Defense Ministry with the participation of the NATO Secretary General, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, as well as a UN representative is taking place in Stockholm on Wednesday. The main topic on the agenda is the buildup of military assistance to Ukraine.
«Ukraine needs more ammunition, it's about how to supply Ukraine with what it needs now… I made a proposal, the ministers will discuss it. The proposal… includes three points. in ammunition depots. Here we are talking about weeks (waiting for deliveries — ed.). That is, we must use what we already have,» he said.
According to Borrell, the EU countries should also, through the mechanism of joint purchases, increase the supply of ammunition to Kyiv in the medium term. «In the longer term, we need to increase the capacity of our defense industry,» Borrell said.
He added that the EU could spend about one billion euros on the implementation of the first paragraph of the proposal (delivery of ammunition to Ukraine in the warehouses of European countries).
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.