On Thursday 15 June, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, announced that he had already received requests for reimbursement equivalent to “€900 million” from Member States for the shipment of ammunition to Ukraine, under the first track of the High Representative’s proposal to supply Ukraine with one million rounds of ammunition over 12 months (see EUROPE 13145/1).
On his arrival at NATO, Mr Borrell also announced that “by the end of July, contracts will be awarded to industries under the joint call for tenders launched by the European Defence Agency” (Track 2).
The High Representative felt that, given the continuing Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, it was necessary to increase support for Ukraine and provide it with more sophisticated weapons.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also felt that Allied support for Ukraine should be maintained and even increased. In addition to equipment support, he stressed the need to ensure that all the systems already in Ukraine “have the necessary ammunition, spare parts, maintenance and repair capability”.
Earlier in the day, the Ministers of Defence of the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands and Denmark announced, alongside the meeting of the Defence Contact Group for Ukraine, that they were going to deliver “hundreds” of short- and medium-range air defence missiles and associated systems needed to protect critical infrastructures “and to ensure the success of counter-offensive operations in the coming months” (https://aeur.eu/f/7ik ). Delivery of the equipment “has already begun and should be completed within the next few weeks”.
The High Representative also announced that some 24,000 soldiers had already been trained by the EU. The target is 30,000 by the end of the year. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)