EU countries are set to agree a new €5 billion top-up to a fund used to finance military shipments to Ukraine, as the US managed to scrape together $300 million more in ammunition and artillery for Kyiv.
The EU deal, which needs formal approval at a meeting of member states on Wednesday, unlocks fresh cash for the reimbursement of arms supplies to Kyiv by countries in the bloc as a $60 billion package is being held up by US Congress at a critical time for Ukraine’s war effort against Russia.
The stopgap assistance from the Pentagon, announced on Tuesday, as well as the agreement in Brussels indicate western policymakers’ growing fears about Kyiv’s forces no longer being able to hold the line against Russian troops.
“[The] Ukrainians are struggling without ammunition,” a senior US defence official said in reference to recent advances by Russia and warnings from the Ukrainian military that it is rationing shells. “There was an imperative to act.”
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The EU fund, known as the European Peace Facility, will prioritise weapons manufactured inside the bloc but not exclude those from non-EU countries if they are the only option, officials familiar with the matter told the Financial Times said.
The fund been a critical part of European military supplies to Ukraine since February 2022, but has been depleted and talks about a top-up have been ongoing for the past three months. One official said the agreement was about “flexibility by need and not by design. Driven by Ukrainian needs.”
The US has also run out of money to replenish the weapons sent to Ukraine and needs about $10 billion in funds from Congress to replace weapons it has already sent, senior officials said. But recent savings from army contracts have allowed the US to cobble together about $300 million in additional assistance, they said.
“We do have funds ... that can cover the cost of one more package, but this is a bit of an ad hoc or one time shot. We don’t know if or when future savings will come in, and we certainly can’t count on this as a way of doing business,” the senior US defence official said.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan announced the extraordinary funds on Tuesday in advance of president Joe Biden’s meeting with Poland’s president Andrzej Duda and prime minister Donald Tusk, who were expected to press Mr Biden to do more to contain the threat posed by Moscow.
It has not sent any new assistance since December and the Biden administration is still hoping Congress will act to pass some $60 billion in new assistance for Ukraine.
Some Republican and Democratic House politicians are working to force a vote on the $60 billion package this week, which has passed the Senate but has been stalled in the House.
While Europe can plug some of the gaps the lack of US assistance leaves, ultimately it cannot provide what the US can, said Radosław Sikorski, foreign minister of Poland, in Washington on Tuesday.
He said: “We physically don’t have the weapons that are needed at the front. You have the weapons, so on Europe is crucial on the financial side. The United States is crucial on the military side.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024