"We have already delivered over 980,000 shells, and we will soon transfer 1 million shells. I know we committed to reaching this level by spring, but we were unable to. However, we will achieve it by the end of the year, and we have significantly accelerated our efforts," he stated.
The head of European diplomacy noted that there are also other initiatives for supplying Ukrainian military with artillery ammunition, particularly bilateral agreements with EU member states and an initiative from the Czech Republic, which is "working, although not as quickly" as expected.
"In total, by the end of the year, we will supply Ukraine with more than 1.5 million ammunition," promised Borrell.
In his view, by 2025, the EU, if it reaches "cruising speed," will be able to supply Ukraine with the same amount of ammunition.
"The issue was not about transferring what we had, but about production. When we promised to reach the level of 1 million shells per year by spring, we did not know the actual production capacity, and it was not as large as we thought. Now we already have that production capacity," Borrell explained.