EU plans to send more military aid to Ukraine amid turmoil

According to Politico on March 21, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas proposed a plan to mobilize 40 billion euros in military aid for Ukraine this year. However, this plan was abandoned after EU leaders ended their meeting in Brussels.

The main problem is the lack of consensus among EU member states. Some countries, like Hungary, have vetoed the plan, while others, like France, have been reluctant to support the aid package.

Ms Kallas tried to salvage the plan by narrowing its scope. On March 19, the EU’s top diplomat wrote to the bloc’s foreign and defense ministers proposing a much more modest plan, which called for the “first step” of providing 2 million large-caliber artillery shells to Ukraine.

“The realistic plan would be €5 billion for ammunition and that is what we are working on right now,” Ms Kallas told reporters before the start of the EU officials meeting. “This amount of ammunition is available on the market and can be delivered by 2025,” Ms Kallas revealed.

Ms Kallas's call was echoed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who told leaders via videoconference: "We need money for artillery shells and we really want to receive European support of at least 5 billion euros as soon as possible."

But the effort has yet to gain enough support, with ambassadors from France, Italy and Slovakia emphasizing that the plan should only ask for contributions from countries on a “voluntary” basis, thereby reducing pressure to participate.

Another key problem is that the plan has failed to gain support from key countries such as France, as well as senior officials such as Bjorn Seibert, the “powerful” aide to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Ms Kallas’s failure to push her plan through shows the difficulty of rallying 27 countries in a common direction. Ukraine still has overwhelming support from EU countries, however. The 26 countries minus Hungary adopted a joint statement reaffirming their support for Kiev.

Efforts to help Ukraine will continue next week. French President Emmanuel Macron said a “coalition of nations” would hold a summit on Ukraine on March 27 in Paris, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in attendance.

The summit will be an opportunity for EU countries to reaffirm their support for Ukraine and find ways to help the country in its conflict with Russia. However, many challenges lie ahead, and reaching consensus among EU member states will be a difficult task.