European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen expressed confidence in the bloc’s efforts to supply Ukraine with more ammunition. The efforts come amidst Kyiv’s warnings that it was running low on artillery shells.
Speaking with the media at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, von der Leyen said she was confident in the EU’s joint efforts in providing more ammunition to Ukraine and that the joint efforts outweigh the individual national interests in terms of common European defense procurement procedures.
“As always in this atrocious war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine, we see that we can move mountains under pressure, and therefore here too,” said the EU chief. “These are not normal times, these are extraordinary times. And therefore we should also look at extraordinary measures or procedures.”
In remarks at the conference, von der Leyen suggested that the EU collaborate with the bloc’s defense industry to ramp up the production of the much-needed ammunition for Ukrainian forces to use on the ground while replenishing stocks at home. Von der Leyen proposed that the EU do what it did during the pandemic to prepare for the large-scale production of the vaccine.
Von der Leyen also said that the bloc cannot wait for months and years to be able to replenish its own military stocks or send munitions to Ukraine. The bloc’s foreign ministers are expected to discuss the joint procurement of the 155mm artillery shells to Ukraine in a meeting in Brussels on Monday.
This follows NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s comments last week that Ukraine was using up artillery shells faster than its allies can produce.
On Monday, US President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to Ukraine in a show of support ahead of the first-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion on February 24. In the meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Biden pledged that Washington would support Ukraine for as long as it takes.
“Your visit is an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy told Biden, adding that they discussed long-range weapons during the US leader’s visit to Kyiv.
The White House said Biden is set to announce more sanctions on Russia and more military assistance to Ukraine including artillery ammunition, anti-armor systems, and air surveillance radars.