EU Agrees to Push Ahead on Joint Arms Buying to Aid Ukraine

08 March 2023, Sweden, Stockholm: Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov speaks to the media ahead of an informal meeting of the EU Defense Ministers. (European Council/dpa)
08 March 2023, Sweden, Stockholm: Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov speaks to the media ahead of an informal meeting of the EU Defense Ministers. (European Council/dpa)
TT
20

EU Agrees to Push Ahead on Joint Arms Buying to Aid Ukraine

08 March 2023, Sweden, Stockholm: Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov speaks to the media ahead of an informal meeting of the EU Defense Ministers. (European Council/dpa)
08 March 2023, Sweden, Stockholm: Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov speaks to the media ahead of an informal meeting of the EU Defense Ministers. (European Council/dpa)

European Union countries agreed on Wednesday to speed up supplies of artillery rounds and buy more shells to help Ukraine but still have to work out how to turn these aims into reality.

Under a plan drawn up by foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, EU states would get financial incentives worth 1 billion euros ($1.06 billion) to send more of their artillery rounds to Kyiv while another 1 billion euros would fund joint procurement of new shells.

"There has been a general agreement on this procedure but there are questions pending. Everything has to be discussed in detail," Borrell said after a meeting of EU defense ministers in Stockholm also attended by their Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov.

Borrell said he hoped the plan would be finalized at a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers on March 20.

Reznikov had urged the ministers in Stockholm to support an Estonian plan for EU countries to club together to buy 1 million 155-millimeter shells this year at a cost of 4 billion euros to help fight Russia's invasion and launch a counter-offensive.

Borrell's plan is smaller in scale but would still be a landmark step for the EU as defense procurement has largely been the preserve of the bloc's individual member governments.

Boosting capacity

EU officials say if the bloc places a large order on behalf of member governments, they will get a better price and give arms firms a strong incentive to invest in increasing capacity.

However, officials said there was still much work to be done to hammer out details such as how the funding would work and who would take the lead in sealing deals with arms firms.

Ukraine is burning through shells faster than its allies can make them, officials say, prompting a renewed search for ammunition and ways to ramp up production.

Reznikov said Ukraine wanted 90,000 to 100,000 artillery rounds per month. "We need to move forward as soon as possible," he told reporters before the meeting.

But EU ministers and officials have been unable to say how much capacity Europe's defense industry has to provide the shells Ukraine needs.

Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said she had proposed that industry leaders join the March 20 meeting.

"We are talking a lot about industry. I suggested we should also talk with industry," she said.

Funding will also be a subject for further debate.

While Estonia said EU countries should provide fresh money for joint procurement, Borrell has proposed using cash already allocated to an EU-run fund, the European Peace Facility.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Wednesday's discussions about joint procurement were "right and necessary" but should not distract from the fact that it would take time for industry to ramp up capacity.

"We have to face the truth. Just because we all place more orders does not mean there is more ammunition. It has to be produced before it can be delivered," he said.



UN Nuclear Watchdog Says US-Iran Talks at 'Very Crucial' Stage



In this photo released by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a meeting with the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran via AP)
In this photo released by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a meeting with the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran via AP)
TT
20

UN Nuclear Watchdog Says US-Iran Talks at 'Very Crucial' Stage



In this photo released by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a meeting with the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran via AP)
In this photo released by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi attends a meeting with the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami, in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran via AP)

Talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program are “in a very crucial” stage, the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Thursday while on a visit to Tehran.

The comments by Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Iran included an acknowledgment his agency likely would be key in verifying compliance by Iran should a deal be reached. Iran and the US will meet again Saturday in Rome for a new round of talks after last weekend's first meeting in Oman, The AP news reported.

The stakes of the negotiations Saturday and the wider geopolitical tensions in the Mideast couldn't be higher, particularly as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in the Gaza Strip.
US President Donald Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Grossi visits during ‘crucial’ Iran-US talks Grossi arrived in Iran on Wednesday night and met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who now is in Moscow for separate talks likely over the negotiations. On Thursday, Grossi met with Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, then later toured a hall featuring some of Iran's civilian nuclear projects.

“We know that we are in a very crucial, I would say, stage of this important negotiation, so I want to concentrate on the positive,” Grossi told Iranian media. “There is a possibility of a good outcome. Nothing is guaranteed. We need to make sure that we put all of the elements in place ... in order to get to this agreement."

He added: “We know we don't have much time. So this is why I'm here. This is why I'm in contact with the United States as well.”

Asked about Trump's threats to attack Iran, Grossi urged people to “concentrate on our objective.”

“Once we get to our objective, all of these things will evaporate because there will be no reason for concern,” he said.

For his part, Eslami said Iran expected the IAEA to “maintain impartiality and act professionally,” a report from the state-run IRNA news agency said.

Since the nuclear deal’s collapse in 2018 with Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of the US from the accord, Iran has abandoned all limits on its program, and enriches uranium to up to 60% purity — near weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the Vienna-based agency’s most experienced inspectors. Iranian officials also have increasingly threatened that they could pursue atomic weapons, something the West and the IAEA have been worried about for years since Tehran abandoned an organized weapons program in 2003.

Despite tensions between Iran and the agency, its access has not been entirely revoked.