Europe to Increase Weapons Production for Ukraine

The European Union countries will produce about 2 million artillery shells in 2025. This was announced by the newly appointed European Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius, Ukrinform reports.

Answering the question of whether Europe has enough production capacity to increase military assistance to Ukraine, the official noted that only 20-25% of weapons are produced in the EU, and the rest are purchased abroad.

According to Kubilius, increasing arms production in the EU requires orders from European governments, which are currently lacking, and without long-term contracts with arms manufacturers, Europe should not be expected to produce more weapons and ammunition for Ukraine in the coming years.

‘Money from the EU budget cannot be used to purchase weapons for Ukraine. There are a number of restrictions on investment in the defence industry outside the EU. However, money from the European Peace Fund or from frozen Russian assets can be used to purchase weapons,’ the newly appointed European Commissioner said.

At the same time, according to Kubilius, next year Ukraine will receive about €30 billion from the EU and will decide how much of this amount to use for defence purposes. The EU is currently implementing a new mechanism that will allow the integration of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex into the European defence industry.