Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market, has insisted that by spring 2024, the production capacity of defence companies in the EU will reach one million artillery shells annually, but that Ukraine needs political will to transfer ammunition.

As reported by DW,  according to Breton’s estimates, the production potential will even reach 1.3 to 1.4 million shells by the end of 2024.

Breton noted that he came to this conclusion after visiting military-industrial companies in 15 EU countries. 

At the same time, he said that "the problem lies in the situation with contracts in general", as about 40% of production leaves Europe and goes to third countries.

In order for all the ammunition produced to be transferred to Ukraine, the EU countries should give priority to production for Ukraine. Breton said that this was his initial proposal, but it was not supported by the EU Council. 

In addition, EU member states are not currently signing enough contracts for the production of shells, he said.

"We are building the European defence market step by step. The signing of contracts will help speed up our deliveries to Ukraine," he said.

Breton emphasised that production was accelerating and the EU could quickly create additional capacity, but the political will to supply Ukraine must come first.

Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the EU is not on track to fulfil its plan to supply 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine by March 2024 due to the state of defence production and bureaucratic obstacles.

This was also acknowledged by German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs called on the EU to buy shells for Ukraine outside its borders, as the EU itself is not meeting the schedule.