European Union states will make another push to jointly provide money to buy two million rounds of artillery shells for Ukraine when foreign ministers meet on Monday.
EU states have been negotiating in recent weeks about the immediate provision of an extra €5 billion in funding for Ukraine. The money will be used to replenish Ukraine’s stocks of artillery shells and bolster its position in the full-scale war that started when Russia invaded more than three years ago.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, has been leading the effort to get EU capitals to contribute more financial and military aid to Kyiv. Speaking on Friday, Ms Kallas said the amount committed by national governments was constantly increasing.
“Last year we supported Ukraine with €20 billion. This year already member states have committed over €23 billion. We are definitely doing more than last year, but we need to do more,” she said.
The former Estonian prime minister is pushing for a short-term target of an extra €5 billion for artillery shells during the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday. The proposal is part of a plan to get EU states to potentially double the amount of support given to Ukraine to €40 billion this year.
The Nordic and Baltic States, Poland and the Netherlands are all keen on the proposal given they spend a higher portion of their budgets on support for Ukraine.
Some bigger states, such as France, have baulked at the idea of doubling EU military aid to Kyiv. French president Emmanuel Macron did recently announce that France – despite stretched public finances – would provide an extra €2 billion in military assistance.
Similar public commitments from several capitals put “peer pressure” on others to step up, one EU official involved in work on the Kallas proposal said.
Hungary, and possibly Slovakia, are expected to oppose the proposal, meaning EU states’ contributions will be made on a voluntary basis.
A further round of talks may take place between officials from Ukraine and the US next week as part of US president Donald Trump’s efforts to bring the war to a swift end.
Russia and Ukraine had each accused the other of breaching the terms of a recent agreement to not target energy facilities in the conflict.
Ukraine previously indicated it would accede to a 30-day ceasefire, following pressure from the US. However, Russia has insisted on a range of conditions being met before it will sign up to a halt in the fighting.
“We are already four weeks into the time when Ukraine agreed to unconditional ceasefire, and we have not seen any positive signs on the Russian side,” Ms Kallas said.
Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius said Europe has to take on more responsibility for shoring up Ukraine’s defence. He was speaking after a meeting of more than 50 countries supporting Ukraine, held in the Nato military alliance’s Brussels headquarters on Friday. US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth attended the meeting remotely.
Discussions are continuing among European allies about how to guarantee Ukraine’s security in the event of a truce, particularly if it is on terms more favourable to Russia.
A “coalition of the willing”, led by France and the UK, has been drawing up plans for a European military force that would be deployed in Ukraine to help maintain any peace deal. John Healey, UK secretary of state for defence, said planning for what that would look like in practice was “real, substantial, well advanced”.
