Moscow, February 27 – Estonian Defense Minister Hannu Pevkur is urging the European Union to focus on buying ammunition for Ukraine, rather than sending existing ones, Bloomberg reports, citing a letter from the minister to European diplomat Josep Borrell.
“Of course, we must supply 155mm ammunition from existing stocks, but demand leads to supply only when new contracts are signed with the industry,” Pefkor wrote.
The Minister of Defense of Estonia noted that the volume of ammunition production in Europe is currently insufficient to supply Ukraine and replenish stocks in the long term.
The letter states that purchases can be made not only by an EU body, but also by a member state acting on behalf of the union.
Earlier, Estonia delivered a new package of military aid to Ukraine. The new aid package includes assault rifles, handguns, drones, thermal imagers, generators, chargers and military equipment. After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, Estonia provided Kiev with military assistance worth almost 400 million euros, or more than one percent of the republic’s GDP.
Russia has previously sent a memorandum to NATO countries over the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has indicated that any shipment containing weapons to Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that NATO countries were “playing with fire” by supplying arms to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that the injection of weapons into Ukraine from the West does not contribute to the success of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative impact.
