3 EU countries block decision on procurement of ammunition for Ukraine outside bloc - media

The EU may try to mitigate the immediate shortage of ammunition in Ukraine by using the bloc's money to jointly purchase shells in the global market. However, according to three EU diplomats, a small group of European countries led by France is blocking attempts to use EU money to purchase shells outside the bloc. Particularly because European arms manufacturers need orders to justify ramping up production.

Politico reported this.

The publication notes that this week at a meeting of the Political and Security Committee, most EU countries advocated allowing the use of EU money to buy shells produced outside the EU as an emergency measure to help Ukraine, diplomats said. However, France, Greece and Cyprus opposed.

This is despite a senior French official revealing in late January that France would allow procurement outside the EU if the bloc failed to meet its target of supplying 1 million projectiles to Ukraine by March, which would happen.

France also did not disclose the total amount of its supplies to Ukraine, despite pressure from Germany.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the U.S. House of Representatives went on vacation until the end of February, without voting on the bill passed by the Senate with a package of assistance to Ukraine. All the votes in the House of Representatives for Friday are canceled and members of the House will return to work only from February 28, which delays the long-awaited vote on the decision on funds to extend support for Ukraine for at least two weeks.