EU delivers over 980,000 of promised 1 million shells to Ukraine

This year, the EU has supplied Ukraine with over 980,000 artillery shells and is set to deliver even more soon, thanks to having the right production facilities in place

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EU Chief of Diplomacy Josep Borrell said this in an interview with European Pravda.

“We have almost done it. We have already delivered more than 980,000 shells, and very soon we will deliver 1 million shells. I know we committed to reaching this level by spring—and we failed. But by the end of the year, we will be able to. And we have accelerated our efforts to do so,” said the EU's chief diplomat.

He noted that a significant amount of ammunition was also delivered to Ukraine under other bilateral agreements. Some was purchased through a Czech initiative. In total, Ukraine will receive more than 1.5 million rounds of ammunition by the end of the year.

Borrell assured that the EU would be able to supply sufficient ammunition next year, with relevant production facilities already in place.

“Once we reach cruising speed, we will be able to continue supplying Ukraine with the same amount of ammunition. The problem was not in transferring what we had, but in production. When we promised to reach the level of 1 million shells by spring, we did not know what the actual production capacity was, and it was not as high as we thought. Now we have this production capacity,” said the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

During his visit to Kyiv on November 11, Borrell met with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Following the meeting, the Prime Minister said that they had discussed Ukraine's European integration and the development of joint ventures with the EU's top diplomat.

“We also discussed our continued cooperation within the framework of the European Peace Fund and the Ukraine Assistance Fund. We are grateful for the ammunition and expect to receive a total of 1 million rounds of ammunition by the end of this year. We especially appreciate the security agreement with the EU signed in June and look forward to its successful implementation,” he wrote.

On April 13, 2023, the EU Council approved the allocation of €1 billion for ammunition for Ukraine. On May 2, the EU prepared a plan to produce 1 million shells for Ukraine and to replenish its own stockpiles.
On May 23, EU Chief Diplomat Josep Borrell announced that since the beginning of the year, EU states had already provided more than one-fifth of the targeted one million artillery rounds and missiles to Ukraine as part of an initiative to supply Ukraine with 1 million rounds.
On June 1, the European Parliament supported a bill to increase European production of ammunition and missiles to support the Ukrainian army. On July 7, the Council of the European Union and the Parliament agreed on a draft regulation for the Ammunition Support Act (ASAP), aimed at increasing the production of missiles and ammunition.
On July 13, the European Parliament approved plans to boost the EU’s production of ammunition and missiles to address the shortage caused by supplies to Ukraine.
In early November 2023, reports indicated that the EU was concerned it might not be able to provide Ukraine with 1 million rounds of ammunition by the promised deadline of March 2024.
In January 2024, Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur stated that Ukraine would receive more than 1 million artillery shells from the EU by the end of 2024.