European Commissioner: the EU will be able to produce 1.3 million shells by the end of this year

By the end of 2024, the European Union will be able to produce more than 1.3 million artillery shells per year.

Most of the manufactured ammunition will be sent to Ukraine as part of military aid to counter the Russian invasion.

European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton announced this during his visit to Estonia.

The European Commissioner explained that the EU was currently facing a dual task: providing military aid to Ukraine and replenishing its own military stocks.

“We will continue to increase our production capacity, probably to 1.3-1.4 million shells by the end of this year, and will continue to increase it significantly in 2025,” Breton said.

According to him, the EU countries will be able to produce one million artillery shells in March-April 2024.

At the same time, the European Commissioner refused to disclose the current production figures, having said that it was secret information.

“With this capability, we have to make sure that most of shells go to Ukraine. Because that is where they are most needed,” he said.

Ammunition for Ukraine from the EU

In November 2023, Dmytro Kuleba, Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that the European Union will not be able to fulfill its plan to supply a million artillery shells to Ukraine until March 2024, emphasizing that the EU was working on problems’ solving.

Before that, Josep Borrell, Head of the EU Diplomatic Department, noted that the European Union hadn’t abandoned the goal of supplying Ukraine with 1 million ammunition for artillery by March 2024.

However, he mentioned that the promise might not be fulfilled in time. Everything will depend on the speed of ammunition production at factories. He also said that European defense companies still export 40 percent of their shells to other countries, not Ukraine.

As previously reported, the EU’s defense industry denies any fault in the failure of the plan to supply Ukraine with shells.