Borrell: European military stocks depleted amid support for Ukraine

Against the backdrop of support for Ukraine, Europe’s military stocks were depleted, informed Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on his blog.

According to him, Russia’s special operation in Ukraine was “a wake-up call for all of us regarding our military capabilities.” “We gave weapons to Ukraine, but at the same time we realized that our military stocks were depleted,” he wrote.

Borrell noted that Europe “lacks critical defense capabilities to defend itself against higher-level threats on the European continent itself.”

Borrell also cited some data from the Defense Data 2020-2021 report and the European Defense Matters 2022 survey prepared by the European Defense Agency (EDA) in his blog. Thus, the EU defense spending in 2021 increased by 6% compared to 2020, to 214 billion euros. On average, member states spend 1.5% of GDP on defense, with five countries increasing defense spending by 20% or more and one by 42%. Borrell did not specify which countries in question. EU investments in the defense sector in 2021 amounted to 52 billion euros, or 24% of total defense spending.

The head of EU diplomacy noted that the union needs to meet short-term needs through increased joint investment and purchases, as support for Ukraine has revealed “the insufficiency of our stocks and the fragility of our supply chains.” He added that if all the announced spending increases are implemented, the EU’s total defense spending will increase by another 70 billion euros by 2025.

The fact that the European Union is running out of stocks of weapons for deliveries to Kyiv, Borrell declared December 8th. “Stocks of weapons in the EU, supplied to Ukraine, are depleted due to the fact that we have not provided the necessary funding for years. What we send to Kyiv, we take not from warehouses, but from our armies,” he said.

30 November US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken declaredthat the military assistance of Western countries to Ukraine in total exceeded $40 billion. At the same time, the Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized the supply of Western weapons to Kyiv. Back in April, Moscow sent a note of protest to all countries, including the United States, over military aid to Ukraine.