Despite promising to deliver one million new artillery rounds to Ukraine by next March, the European Union (EU) is now saying that this will no longer be possible because Europe's weapons industry is severely lacking.
According to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, the EU will simply not be able to make good on its pledge to further arm Ukraine in its fight against Russia as Brussels promised earlier this year.
The EU had hoped to fulfill its pledge within 12 months by dipping into its existing ammunition stockpiles, as well as by obtaining more shells from arms manufacturers. The reality is that the European bloc is way behind schedule, and the goal is now "unattainable."
"The one million won't be achieved," stated Pistorius ahead of a meeting this week among EU defense chiefs in Brussels. "One must proceed on this assumption."
According to Pistorius, European nations have inadequate production capabilities to achieve this lofty goal. Even if the entire European economy were to shift into wartime mode, it would still not be enough to produce that much ammo for when Ukraine says it needs it.
Pistorius was skeptical about the promise from the very start, fearing early on that it was unrealistically ambitious. It turns out he was spot-on, with Kuleba also echoing to the media that "unfortunately" Pistorius' concerns have come true.
"There are questions, and we are, so to speak, ringing the bells a lot and loudly," the minister stated, adding that the EU is willing to deliver the promised number of shells on principle, but cannot actually do so in reality because of the "pathetic state of the defense industry."
(Related: Back in early October, we reported on NATO's announcement that it is running out of weapons for Ukraine – the "bottom of the barrel" is no visible.)
Ukraine demanding "more and faster" munitions, but Europe and the West cannot deliver
If there is anything thus far that points to Ukraine's failure in the fight against Russia, it is the simple fact that Ukraine is running out of weapons, ammunition and bodies. And its Western welfare suppliers are lagging behind with no way to deliver on their promises.
Ukraine continues to demand that "more and faster is needed," but Brussels is unable to give Volodymyr Zelensky's regime what it is demanding, which points to a soon-realized Russian victory.
According to media reports, the European External Action Service, which functions as the EU's foreign policy division, recently announced that member states are severely lagging with respect to the ammunition pledge.
With less than three months to go before the deadline arrives, the EU has provided just 30 percent of the one million shells, which is hardly enough for Ukraine to continue the fight against Russia.
Russia has clearly indicated that Western nations like those in Europe as well as the United States have already become de facto parties to the conflict simply by their providing of arms, intelligence and training to Kiev's military.
Moscow's view is that no amount of Western defense aid, including the one million rounds that will simply not arrive before the deadline, are enough to change the course of its military campaign. In other words, Russia is already basically declaring victory over Ukraine.
Meanwhile, there are growing fears that there will very soon be a direct conflict between Russia and NATO, the latter of which is clearly siding with Ukraine no matter what.
"By supplying the weapons that are being dropped on hospitals in Gaza, the U.S. is also guilty of genocide and Israel a party to the Gaza war," one commenter also pointed out.
"The same is true here. By supplying weapons to Ukraine that are killing Ukrainians on Ukrainian soil, the EU is a major participant to this war."
The latest news about the war in Ukraine can be found at Chaos.news.
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