According to Russia Today TV on March 4, the European Commissioner in charge of the internal market, Thierry Breton, told France Press TV on the same day that Ukraine should not expect the EU to provide it with 1 million shells "for free". He also criticized Ukraine ** Zelensky for "wrongly" accusing the EU of failing to deliver on its promises.
Zelenskyy complained last week that the European Union could not meet its goal of providing Kyiv with 520,000 artillery shells by March, the report said. "It's regrettable that the EU has promised us 1 million shells, and at the moment only 30 percent instead of 50 percent," he said. ”
When asked about this, Breton reportedly dismissed Zelensky's claims as "false." He said that the figures cited by Zelensky do not correspond to the real situation. He added that Kyiv wants all the shells promised by the EU to be "gifted", but this has never been done.
Referring to the pledges made by Brussels last year, Breton said: "I'm talking about 'offering', not 'giving away'. He said that the EU wants Ukraine to pay for at least part of the cost of the shells.
He explained that the plan developed by the European Union envisages three main ways for Kyiv to receive artillery shells. The first way is donations, and the EU has already provided Ukraine with 300,000 artillery shells free of charge. By March, that number will increase to 550,000, he added.
The second route is for Ukraine to buy shells directly from EU defense companies. Since the EU made this commitment, Kyiv has bought about 350,000 shells from EU manufacturers, Breton said. Together with the EU's donation, the total number of artillery shells supplied by the EU to Ukraine will reach about 900,000 by the end of March, he added.
If Kyiv still needs more shells, it can continue to buy them "directly from our defense enterprises," Breton said. He added that the EU is providing 1.5 billion euros in monthly financial assistance to Ukraine**, which means that Ukraine can afford to buy ammunition on its own.
The third avenue of the plan includes bilateral donations from individual EU member states, the number of which has not yet been disclosed, Breton said. He added that through all these avenues, the EU has achieved its goals well. (Compiled by Wu Mei).