On Wednesday 30 August, Europe’s defence ministers met in Toledo, in a former arms factory that has been converted into a university, to discuss further support for Ukraine through the European Peace Facility, delivery of munitions and training of Ukrainian soldiers.
“Ukraine needs predictable and long-term military support”, said the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, at the end of the informal meeting of ministers, during which they received a video message from their Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov.
The ministers discussed the proposal for an assistance fund of up to €5 billion per year for the 2024-2027 period. Mr Borrell hoped that an agreement could be reached “as soon as possible”, “hopefully by the end of the year”.
On her arrival at the meeting, the chair of the European Parliament’s sub-committee, Nathalie Loiseau, argued in favour of the fund, stressing the need for “greater visibility in the coming months and years” in terms of support for Ukraine. “If we are to train F-16 pilots, if we are to upgrade the military equipment we send to Ukraine, we need this visibility and stability”, she said.
While several ministers, such as those from Bulgaria, Estonia and Latvia, publicly expressed their support for the High Representative’s proposal on their arrival in Toledo, others pointed out that the details still needed to be agreed.
“It is vital that we continue to have the capacity to support and sustain this collective effort. But there is still a long way to go in terms of operationalisation and concrete definition”, stressed the Portuguese minister, Helena Carreiras. For his Swedish counterpart, Pål Jonson, it is necessary to discuss the scope and content of this long-term support. He said that Josep Borrell’s proposal was “interesting” and that work should continue on it. “The key point here is also the message that we are all committed to support Ukraine for the long term and for as long as it takes”, he added.
The European foreign ministers, who meet this Thursday in Toledo, will continue their discussions on this subject.
In addition to the European Peace Facility, the High Representative returned to the subject of the delivery of munitions to Ukraine. At the end of part 1 of the proposal to deliver 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, 224,000 shells and 2,300 missiles were promised, for a total reimbursement of €1.1 billion, according to Mr Borrell. He added that everything was in place for Member States to be able to award common contracts to the industry for munitions destined for Ukraine (part 2).
“We need to do more and faster, but we must not underestimate what has already been done”’ said Mr Borrell, who was joined by the Estonian minister, Hanno Pevkur.
“Even if we have commitments for a quarter of the munitions (out of one million, editor’s note), there is still a lot to do”, he stressed on arriving at the meeting. The minister explained that the Member States had to draw on their stocks, study how to refurbish old ammunition – a proposal from Slovakia which Mr Borrell said would be studied – and if that was not enough, consider the possibility of buying from third countries.
According to Mr Pevkur, Ukraine uses 6,000 rounds of ammunition a day, while Russia can use 10 times more. However, he pointed out that the shells sent to Ukraine were more accurate than those from Russia.
For her part, recalling that her country’s military support to Ukraine had exceeded 1% of its GDP, the Latvian minister, Ināra Mūrniece, said that she would be “happy if some other EU countries join us in such a thing”. “All of us can do more, all of us can do better”, she acknowledged.
Train 40,000 Ukrainian soldiers by the end of the year
The High Representative also referred to the training of Ukrainian military personnel through the EUMAM Ukraine mission, which is meeting these objectives. According to Mr Borrell, 25,000 soldiers have already been trained and the initial target of 30,000 should be reached in October. He proposed the goal of training, not 30,000, but 40,000 soldiers by the end of the year.
“We are not only working on quantity, but also on quality”, added the High Representative, announcing that Ukraine needed more specialised training for smaller groups and on command capabilities. He added that the EU would explore the possibilities of including an F-16 training module in the mission, welcoming the decision by the Netherlands and Denmark to supply these aircraft to Ukraine.
On her arrival, the Dutch minister, Kajsa Ollongren, welcomed the letter of intent signed the previous day between her country and Romania on the training and maintenance of F-16s in Romania, describing it as “a concrete step towards strengthening air defence of Ukraine”.
Ms Mūrniece, for her part, pointed out that Latvia had committed itself to training 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers this year, “a very large number, given the size of the country and the army” – as many as Spain. Germany’s Secretary of State for Defence, Siemtje Möller, said that by the end of the year, Berlin wanted to have trained 10,000 soldiers. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Aminata Niang)