EU foreign ministers meeting: Ukraine asks EU states for additional arms assistance

Ukraine is asking Germany and the other EU countries for more arms and ammunition supplies for the fight against Russia. During talks with the foreign ministers of the European partners on Thursday, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba mentioned artillery ammunition, armored vehicles and tanks as required armaments. He asked militarily neutral EU states such as Austria and Ireland to provide armored rescue vehicles.

In order to make it more difficult for Russia to produce missiles and drones, Kuleba also called on the EU states to step up their fight against circumventing sanctions. “We see that production is increasing and that western parts are being used,” he said at the EU meeting in Toledo, Spain. This must be prevented, for example, with export controls.

In addition, Kuleba asked to consider the delivery of additional air defense systems. According to him, these could secure a new route for Ukrainian grain exports, which leads from the Ukrainian Black Sea region towards Romanian sovereign waters.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) said in Toledo: “It is our responsibility to keep reflecting on how we can coordinate our support for Ukraine even more efficiently and in a better coordinated way.” This applies to military support via bilateral security pledges, but also to European support based on solidarity via the so-called European Peace Facility and support for reconstruction.

Regarding the high cost of the support, Baerbock said: “We have to keep reminding ourselves every day: we are investing in peace in Europe.”