EU sent €28B worth of military aid to Ukraine, document shows

As the latest U.S. aid package for Ukraine is blocked in the Congress, the burden to help Kyiv fend off Russia’s invasion is increasingly falling on Europe. In an op-ed published Wednesday, leaders from five EU countries — Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Estonia and Denmark — called on Europe to commit to long-term support for Ukraine.  

What is increasingly obvious, however, is that the EU won’t be able to send 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine by March, as promised. 

According to the document, prepared for an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels on Wednesday,  the EU will miss its target, but the bloc is expected to exceed it and send 1.1 million shells by the end of the year. By late last year, EU countries had delivered around 330,000 ammunition rounds. 

Ammunition production has also massively increased. 

“Based on feedback from the European defence industry, the 155mm European production capacity has already increased by more than 40 percent since the beginning of the war,” the document reads, adding that European companies will be able to produce one million shells a year by spring and 1.4 million shells a year by end of the year. 

By mid-February, the EU Military Assistance Mission will have trained 40,500 Ukrainian soldiers.