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EU to produce 2 million artillery shells in 2025, new defense commissioner tells media

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EU to produce 2 million artillery shells in 2025, new defense commissioner tells media
A Ukrainian soldier prepares 155mm artillery shells in his fighting position as the Ukrainian Army conducts an operation to target trenches of Russian forces through the Donetsk Oblast. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The European Union is expected to manufacture around two million artillery shells in 2025, Andrius Kubilius, the newly appointed EU Commissioner for Defense and Space, told Hromadske news outlet.

Addressing concerns about whether Europe has sufficient production capacity to boost military support for Ukraine, Kubilius said that only 20-25% of EU-supplied weapons are produced within the bloc, with the remainder purchased from external sources.

Kubilius emphasized that increasing arms production in the EU depends on orders from European governments, which are currently insufficient. Without long-term contracts with defense manufacturers, he warned, Europe is unlikely to ramp up weapons and ammunition production for Ukraine in the coming years.

"EU budget funds cannot be used to buy weapons for Ukraine. There are numerous restrictions on investing in defense industries outside the EU. However, funds from the European Peace Facility or frozen Russian assets can be utilized for arms procurement," Kubilius explained.

Next year, Ukraine is set to receive approximately 30 billion euros from the EU, Kubilius said, leaving Ukrainian authorities to decide how much of this support will go toward defense. Kubilius said there is also a new mechanism being introduced to integrate Ukraine's defense industry into the European defense ecosystem.

The European Council, in its final communiqué from the summit held on Dec. 18-19, urged EU member states to immediately enhance military aid to Ukraine. Leaders called for faster delivery of air defense systems, ammunition, and missiles, as well as additional training and equipment for new Ukrainian brigades.

EU delivered 1 million shells to Ukraine, fulfilling pledge, Kallas says; no estimate for 2025 yet
The European Union has delivered 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine, fulfilling the pledge it initially promised to deliver by the spring of 2024, the EU’s new top diplomat Kaja Kallas told the Kyiv Independent on the sidelines of her visit to Kyiv.
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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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