The EU sends 223,800 rounds of heavy calibre ammunition to Ukraine and Spain completes the delivery of ten Leopard tanks
The last four Leopard 2A4 tanks committed by Spain and the first large consignment of large calibre shells and missiles that Brussels is sending to President Volodimir Zelenski are already in Ukraine.
The European Union has recently delivered "about 223,800 shells for long-range self-propelled artillery pieces, precision-guided munitions and mortar rounds, as well as 2,300 missiles of all types", Peter Stano, chief spokesman for foreign affairs and security policy, confirmed on 11 August.
The Kiev Armed Forces have also received the last four Spanish Leopard 2A4s sent at the end of July, although Margarita Robles' department has not yet officially confirmed that they are already in the hands of the Ukrainian government. They complete the ten committed by President Sánchez, which have been fine-tuned by General Dynamics European Land Systems-Santa Bárbara Sistemas at its factory in Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville) and have undergone final taxiing and firing tests.
At the European level, the cost of hundreds of thousands of 105, 120 and 155 millimetre shells and missiles, according to the spokesman for Spain's Josep Borrell, Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, amounts to "1.1 billion euros". This is Brussels' response to the repeated demands of President Zelenski, who insistently expresses the needs of his armed forces for armaments, military equipment and ammunition.
Ukraine's priorities include alleviating the shortage of large-calibre projectiles, especially 155 millimetre shells. This is the consequence of the enormous consumption of its artillery to support by fire the counter-offensive launched at the beginning of June by the Ukrainian armed forces in their attempt to dislodge Russian troops from the occupied territories in the east of the country.
Collaborative Ammunition Procurement project underway
The large shipment of ammunition and missiles already in the hands of the Ukrainian military is the first of several shipments committed to by Brussels, which in March approved an extraordinary budget of 2 billion euros. This amount is intended to reimburse member states for about half the cost of the 155 millimetre shells, of which Kiev argues it needs one million rounds by 2023.
To reduce costs, delivery times and allow member states to procure ammunition according to their national needs and to support Ukraine, the EU's European Defence Agency, the EDA, has set up a project called 'Collaborative Procurement of Ammunition' or CPoA, an acronym for Collaborative Procurement of Ammunition. All EU countries and Norway - which has a space agreement with Brussels - are involved, with the sole exception of Bulgaria.
Established in July 2004, the EDA acts as a new procurement authority and management body for ammunition procurement through two channels: a two-year accelerated procedure to procure 155 millimetre artillery rounds and another, with a seven-year horizon, to procure different types and calibres of ammunition.
The EDA issued a voluntary request for information on 30 March to collect data on the European ammunition market and then invite a selected group of companies to negotiate contracts without prior publication. In doing so, the institution has identified what it calls "potential economic operators" with the technical capability to manufacture and deliver 155 millimetre artillery ammunition.
The Agency asked the companies for a summary of their production capacities, proof of experience in supplying complete rounds, as well as the percentage of components subcontracted within or outside EU borders, in particular fuses, projectiles, propelling charges and primers.
The Moncloa guidelines
It also called for NATO certification of the compatibility of 155's production with the systems in service with the Ukrainian Artillery: the German PzH-2000, the French Caesar - an acronym for CAmion Équipé d'un Système d'ARtillerie -, the Polish-British Krab and the Slovakian Zuzana 2/2000.
The terms of the EDA are particularly beneficial for the major manufacturers, for example Germany's Reinmetall and France's Nexter, the largest producers of armour-piercing shells for tanks and breaching rounds for large-calibre self-propelled howitzers.
On the part of the Spanish government, and following Moncloa's guidelines, Margarita Robles' Ministry of Defence has focused its aid on training, logistics and health, with the exception of the Leopard and some shipments of combat vehicles, rocket launchers and ammunition for small arms. The most recent aid is the shipment by sea at the end of July of the four Leopards, ten veteran TOA M-113 Armoured Tracked Transport TOA and one BMR armoured ambulance - which have had to be refurbished - ten trucks and three conventional ambulances.
A batch of 500 tourniquets will be sent shortly, "at the request of the Ukrainian commanders to perform emergency surgery in view of the high number of casualties suffered by Ukrainian troops in July," according to the Defence Department. The aim is to complement the "reinforced" Spanish field hospital that arrived a few weeks ago - which is already in service - and to distribute them among the nests of wounded on the war front.
The Ukrainian Minister of Defence, Oleksii Reznikov, met in Madrid on 12 April with Margarita Robles, who reiterated Spain's "total and absolute" support for Ukraine "for as long as necessary". The two men discussed Spanish aid in the presence of the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Teodoro López Calderón, the Secretary General for Defence Policy, Admiral Juan Francisco Martínez Núñez, the Ukrainian ambassador in Madrid, Serhii Pohoreltsev, and the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Rear Admiral Oleksii Neizhpapa.