Finnish defence minister calls on West to find money for shells for Ukraine ”immediately”

Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen. Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images

Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen calls on the West to increase military support for Ukraine and to find money for shells “immediately”.

Source: European Pravda with reference to Yle

Details: According to Häkkänen, Europe has not realised the seriousness of the war through the prism of history and has not provided Ukraine with sufficient support.

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The EU aims to supply Ukraine with one million artillery shells this year. Earlier, Czechia reported that it had found 800,000 pieces of artillery ammunition in countries outside the EU. The country has asked other EU and NATO countries to help finance the procurement. The estimated value of the ammunition is about €1.3 billion. No decision on funding has been made yet.

Quote from Häkkänen: “Funds to support armaments in Ukraine must be found immediately.”

More details: The defence minister of Finland also stressed the importance of increasing domestic arms production in the EU. Some progress has already been made in this regard, Häkkänen said.

“European countries have managed to increase their own production, and they are close to achieving the goal,” he said.

Background:

• The Czech initiative to procure 800,000 shells for Ukraine outside the EU, which is financed jointly by a number of states, will be able to make first deliveries to Kyiv in a few weeks.
• The Czech Defence Ministry previously stated that it was coordinating the effort and had secured preliminary commitments from Canada and Denmark, as well as other countries that wished not to be named.
• The Netherlands publicly confirmed its participation by donating €250 million for the purchase of ammunition.

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