European Union officials will start tackling a new plan to boost military aid to Ukraine this week.

The Wall Street Journal reported on this.

The new plan aims to allocate tens of billions of euros for joint military procurement for the needs of Ukrainian Defense Forces.

With this move, the EU is seeking to update an aid program that is critical for Ukraine, as there are some member states that are blocking the decision to allocate €50 billion in aid.

The EU move comes after a number of European countries have increased their bilateral military aid to Ukraine even as the US Congress has not yet passed a funding bill.

“Given Ukraine’s dependence on external support, the choices made by EU member states and partners in the coming period will either allow Ukraine to make decisive progress or seriously undermine its ability to resist,” the proposal reads.

If approved, the plan provides for the return of more than €20 billion of EU funds to countries in exchange for their military aid to Ukraine over the next four years.

In early December last year, Militarnyi reported that representatives of the European Union and the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense discussed a long-term security support that the EU is ready to offer Ukraine.

Future European aid will include the supply of military hardware and equipment and, in particular, cooperation with the Ukrainian defense industry.

The proposal includes nine priorities for future EU security commitments to Ukraine:

• assistance with military hardware and equipment;
• training of the Ukrainian military;
• cooperation with the Ukrainian defense industry;
• countering cyber and hybrid threats;
• assistance in demining;
• implementation of reforms related to the EU accession process;
• strengthening the ability to control weapons stockpiles;
• support for nuclear security efforts;
• intelligence sharing, including satellite imagery.

It is expected that 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.