The German Defense Minister said that the EU will not be able to supply Ukraine with the promised million shells until March 2024.

The head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry explained this by the “deplorable state of the defense industry” in Europe

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that EU countries will not have time to produce and deliver a million artillery shells to Ukraine before March 2024. He spoke about this at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels, reports . Reuters

“I didn’t promise a million shells, and that was intentional. The right question to ask would be whether a million was ever a realistic goal.

There were voices that warned: “Better be careful, a million is easy to say, there is money, but there must be production.” Those warning voices have unfortunately been confirmed right now,” Pistorius said.

Journalists clarified that the words of the German Minister of Defense became the first public admission from the EU that it would not be able to supply Kyiv with the promised amount of ammunition. It is noted that other participants in the meeting did not contradict him.

Prior to this, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, also said that the EU would not have time to supply Kyiv with a million artillery shells before March 2024. According to him, in almost eight months Ukraine received only 300 thousand ammunition.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba also admitted that the EU will not have time to deliver a million shells before March 2024. Commenting on a Bloomberg publication with a similar message, he emphasized that the inability to send a million ammunition to Kiev is due to the “deplorable state of the defense industry” in Europe.

“Unfortunately, Bloomberg is telling the truth. There are questions, and we, let’s say, ring the bells a lot and loudly,” Kuleba said.

He also added that the EU leadership is working to eliminate the existing problems, but the EU needs to act “faster.”

In March 2023, the European Union agreed on a plan of military assistance to Ukraine worth 2 billion euros. This amount included a million pieces of ammunition for artillery. The EU promised that they would be delivered within 12 months - first from existing stocks, and then by concluding joint procurement contracts and increasing industrial capacity.