BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union has broken a “taboo” by agreeing for the first time to jointly finance weapons deliveries to a third country to help Ukraine fend off the Russian invasion, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell has said.
European defence ministers met via video-conference on Monday to coordinate the deliveries of the arms, which began to arrive in Ukraine over the weekend.
* The EU will use a special fund, set up in March 2021, called the European Peace Facility (EPF) to pay for the arms. The Facility has a total of 5 billion euros ($5.59 billion) to be provided directly by EU countries proportionate to the size of their gross national income until 2027. It sits outside the EU budget.
* The EU will provide 450 million euros for weapons for Ukraine and 50 million euros for non-lethal equipment from the EPF.
* The EPF replaced the earlier “Athena mechanism” and the African Peace Facility that the EU had, broadening the scope of help the EU can provide globally. It allows the EU to provide military equipment and training.
* In the non-lethal category, the EU expects to pay for fuel, ballistic helmets, personal protective equipment and first aid kits. In the lethal weapons category it expects ammunition, munitions, air defence systems and anti-tank systems.
EU countries have pledged or provided the following so far:
* Germany – 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles
* Luxembourg – 100 NLAW anti-tank weapons, jeeps and 15 military tents as well as air transport capacity
* Belgium – 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel
* Netherlands – 200 Stinger missiles
* Poland – 100 mortars, 8 drones, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Grot assault rifles, munitions
* Slovakia – 12,000 pieces of artillery ammunition (120mm), 10 million litres of fuel, 2.4 million litres of aviation fuel and 2 Bozena de-mining systems
* Estonia – Javelin anti-tank weapons (number not disclosed)
* Latvia – Stinger surface to air missiles (number not disclosed)
* Czech Republic – machine guns, assault rifles, other light weapons and ammunition worth 188 million crowns ($8.57 million)
($1 = 0.8943 euros)
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by John Chalmers and Jan Harvey)
