Ukraine Independent reported that on January 22, Vice President of the European Commission, Estonian Prime Minister and known as the EU's top diplomat, Ms. Kaja Kallas urged the bloc to take more drastic action to deal with Russia's spending on defense three times higher than before the Ukraine conflict.
Speaking at a meeting of the European Defense Agency, Kallas said that in the next 3 to 5 years, Russia will threaten the EU's self-defense capabilities, while calling on members to increase their defense budget and strengthen military cooperation with each other.
The female Prime Minister affirmed: "Ukraine is a front line of defense for Europe", but emphasized the urgency of supporting Ukraine to achieve peace through strength.
The EU has pledged to support Ukraine with more than €130 billion, including nearly €50 billion in military aid. Member states have also trained 75,000 Ukrainian soldiers and imposed extensive sanctions on Russia. However, the EUs top diplomat has determined that more should be done.
Also on January 22, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius expressed his agreement with Kallas' concern. Mr. Pistorius warned about the risk of Russia attacking NATO in the next 5 to 6 years thanks to rapid advances in the military field.
On January 13, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that members of the US-led military bloc need to increase defense spending sharply if they do not want to be pressured by Russia or even threaten their security.
To address these challenges, the EU is drafting a ready-made strategy to improve the capacity to work closely among its 27 member states, rather than forming a unified European army.
However, the European defence and space Commissioner said that increasing the production of weapons and ammunition to support Ukraine in the coming years will be difficult to implement even though the EU has planned to produce 2 million artillery shells in 2025.
According to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Europe's arms production capacity is much inferior to Russia. The EU will need a year to do it again, with Moscow doing it for 3 months.
