Germany’s Pistorius says EU will fall short of million shell pledge to Ukraine

BRUSSELS — The EU will not reach its goal of supplying 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine by March, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at the start of Tuesday's summit of EU defense ministers.

"We have to assume that the 1 million will not be achieved," he said.

One way of doing a better job would be for defense firms to focus on sending more ammunition to Ukraine and exporting less to other countries, the EU's foreign and security policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Borrell questioned the claim that the EU's defense production capacity has reached the upper limit.

"Keep in mind European defense industry is exporting a lot — about 40 percent of the production is being exported to third countries," Borrell told reporters before chairing the defense ministers' meeting.

"So it’s not a lack of production capacity; it is that they send their products to [other] markets. So maybe what we have to do is to try to shift this production to the priority one, which is Ukrainians," he added. "It’s a matter of providing another market which could be more interesting for them.”

Countries closer to the frontlines are taking the pledge more seriously.

Estonia announced what it called "the biggest procurement in Europe at this moment" — €280 million worth of 155 millimeter artillery ammunition.

"We sent the procurement offer to five European companies, so this money goes to European companies to produce 155," Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said.

But more has to be done of the bloc is to meet Ukraine's needs.

According to Pevkur, the EU is producing at most 700,000 rounds a year — which falls far short the estimated figure of 3 million that would be needed to supply Ukraine as well as to build up national ammunition stocks.