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EU Countries Buy Three-Quarters of All Weapons Outside Bloc - Borrell

Sputnik News

20240305

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The European Union's member states purchase three-quarters of arms for their troops in third countries, meaning its production capacity has to be ramped up, especially if the EU expects to continue supporting Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday.

"Our armies buy less than they actually need from European industries — that was certainly true before the war. Since the war, three-quarters of our purchases have been made outside the EU," Borrell said at a press conference presenting the new European Defense Industrial Strategy and the European Defense Industry Program.

However, the European Commission's efforts are ultimately aimed at achieving sufficient defense funding and domestic production, not procurement abroad, he said. In 2023, EU member states spent 58 billion euros ($63 billion), funded exclusively from the national budgets, the diplomat said.

"If we want to continue supporting Ukraine, we have to increase our capacity to do so. We have been supporting Ukraine by taking what we already have in our stocks, by producing more. Ukraine today needs 200,000 155 ammunition per month. It makes 2.5 million per year. If we want to support Ukraine, we have to be able to do so, because this does not come from the sky," Borrell said.

Under the new strategy, the European Commission will not acquire arms using funds from a common budget, neither will it limit member-states' decision-making on defense issues, a high-ranking European source told journalists in Brussels.

Western countries have provided hundreds of billions of dollars worth of aid to Ukraine since the start of Russia's special military operation in February 2022. Aid shipments began in 2022 with artillery munitions and training and have escalated to include tanks, advanced air-defense systems, missiles and cluster munitions. All while making false statements about the so-called "Russian threat" and simultaneously conducting full scale military drills close to Russian borders.

The Kremlin has consistently warned against the West's continued arms deliveries to Ukraine, saying that they only prolong the conflict, adding that Western military equipment will be eventually destroyed. Moscow also cautioned that NATO countries "are playing with fire" by providing Kiev with arms.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. According to him, the US and NATO are directly involved in the Ukraine conflict by supplying weapons and training soldiers in the UK, Germany, Italy and other countries.

© Sputnik