Five European countries will step up their support to strengthen Ukraine’s defence industry as the country heads into the third winter at war, Germany’s defence minister said after meeting his French, British, Polish and Italian counterparts on Monday.
”Our target must be to enable Ukraine to act out of a position of strength,” Boris Pistorius told reporters in Berlin.
Earlier this month, European Union supplied Ukraine with more than 980,000 shells for the war with Russia and plans to pass the 1 million mark by the end of this year.
The EU initially set out to supply 1 million 155-mm artillery shells by March 2024 but officials later said production capacity was insufficient to meet the target.
Foreign ministers from the world’s leading industrialized nations expressed cautious optimism Monday about possible progress on a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The top diplomats met for the final time before a new U.S. administration takes office with wars raging in the Mideast and Ukraine.
For the first time, the G7 ministers were joined by their counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the so-called “Arab Quintet,” as well as the Secretary General of the Arab League.
The G7 has been at the forefront of providing military and economic support for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and G7 members are particularly concerned about how a Trump administration will change the U.S. approach.
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More ShortsWith inputs from agencies.