EU to use €1.4 billion of frozen Russian assets for military procurement for Ukraine - Pistorius

The European Union plans to use €1.4 billion in proceeds from frozen Russian assets to purchase military supplies to be delivered to Ukraine by the end of this year, with €1.9 billion worth of materials to be delivered early next year.

Pistorius said that the EU initiative “one million artillery munitions for Ukraine” has been almost fully implemented, almost everything promised has already been delivered to the front, and Germany has covered one third of the costs of this initiative.

According to him, if a few months ago the ratio of ammunition between Russians and Ukrainians was estimated at 10-12 to 1-2, now it is almost parity, meaning that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have almost the same amount of artillery ammunition as the Russian army.

In addition, Europe will train a total of 75,000 Ukrainian soldiers by the end of winter, a quarter of whom have been trained in Germany since the beginning of the full-scale aggression.

Pistorius also confirmed the decision to transfer 4,000 AI drones to Ukraine.

“This is a very important 'asset' for the Armed Forces not only to defend themselves but also to attack Russian logistics... This, of course, will not change the rules of the game, but it will give Ukraine an advantage,” he said.

As for the prospects of transferring German long-range weapons, Germany has not changed its position.

“We have not changed our line, it is others who are changing their lines. Everyone decides for themselves what is legal. In the matter of Taurus, we are talking about a system that is significantly different from all the others used in Ukraine,” Pistorius said, adding that ”no one wants to become a party to the war.”

Source: Ukrinform