Kallas on munitions for Ukraine: Production in EU tripled, but it is not enough
The Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaia Kallas, stated that the member states of the European Union have not achieved the goal stated in the initiative to provide Ukraine with a million shells, despite the fact that the production of ammunition in Europe has tripled. Also, before the meeting of the EU Council, she emphasized that she considers it appropriate that each of the allies should allocate 2% of GDP to defense.
She emphasized that it is February, and "it seems that we have not reached this goal [to produce one million shells – Ed], but without it, we would be in a worse position."
"The first good thing is that the production of ammunition in Europe has tripled. Of course, this is not enough. It also shows that the defense capabilities of European countries are far behind what they should be," Kallas said.
According to the Estonian prime minister, this is a clear signal to everyone that more needs to be done. She also emphasized that she is in favor of "each ally, at least in NATO, allocating 2% of GDP to defense."
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Kallas also touched upon the issue of sanctions against Russia and their circumvention, as unofficial statistics show that microchip imports to Russia have increased. She emphasized that of the "20 companies that supply these microchips, 15 are Western companies, and of those 15, three are European companies."
"I think this is something that we should really recognize and do something about. Because if companies think that we're going to benefit from this and it doesn't matter, it does matter. If everyone does their part, then the tipping point of the war will be much closer than when everyone tries to go around and get their own benefit from it," she concluded.
On January 31, it became known that the Bloomberg publication got acquainted with the letter written by the Minister of Defense Rustem Umyerov to his colleagues from the EU. According to the publication, in the letter he warned the allies that Ukraine is currently facing a critical shortage of artillery shells, as Russia deploys three times more firepower on the front every day.
On January 31, it became known that Kyiv could receive 600,000 of the one million artillery shells that European allies promised to supply to Ukraine by March 2024.
On the same day, EU High Representative Borrell said that the EU was ramping up production and planned to deliver more than a million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine by the end of 2024.
The American newspaper also said that Ukraine could receive a new GLSDB long-range precision-guided bomb from the United States today. Later, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder confirmed this information.
In the evening of that day, the US Deputy Secretary of State said that GLSDB bombs were already on their way to the frontline for use by the Ukrainian military as part of US aid.