On Wednesday in Brussels, two decisions were announced that should accelerate not only the transfer of ammunition to the Ukrainian army in the short term but also allow for the strengthening of their production to replenish the stocks of European countries.

Journalist Yurii Onyshchenko of "European Pravda" explains what the EU agreed on and how it will help Kyiv in his article Europe prepares ammunition: how EU plans to back Ukraine's counteroffensive and strengthen itself (Ukr).

The decision on centralised supply of ammunition to Ukraine was adopted by the EU summit on March 20.

In response to calls and requests from Kyiv, the leaders of the 27 EU states agreed to a "plan" to organise urgent delivery of ammunition and missiles to Ukraine while also helping EU member states replenish their military stocks, which have been depleted during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The plan has three main directions:

1 – EU member states provide additional ammunition worth 1 billion euros from their stock, with compensation from the European Peace Fund for this supply.

2 – EU member states intensify the procurement of new ammunition for Ukraine, for which the European Commission allocates an additional 1 billion euros.

3 – To replenish stocks and prepare for a potentially long war, the EU is strengthening and accelerating European defence-industrial production.

The plans to do everything as quickly as possible sounded great in theory and the text of the EU decision – but they did not pass the test of real life.

During the coordination of legal outlines, it became clear that, in detail, the countries' positions differed. And since it is about mastering large sums of money, no one wants to compromise. It was only now that the agreement was finally coordinated.

On Wednesday, the European Commission published a legislative proposal called the Act in Support of Ammunition Production or ASAP.

The abbreviation ASAP has one more meaning – "as soon as possible."

The European Commission project aims to implement the third point of the "armament plan" to assist Ukraine. Its idea is to increase the production of ammunition in order to quickly replenish the stocks of those EU countries that have transferred a significant amount of shells, missiles, etc. to Ukraine.

For this purpose, half a billion euros will be invested in the construction of existing ammunition production plants. The European Commission document provides for co-financing of the program to update production capacities in a ratio of 40% from the EU and 60% from national governments and businesses.

Formally, this is a bill that needs to be approved. Based on the events, the document has already been agreed with EU member states.

Brussels has already identified 11 European countries with a defence industry capable of producing 155mm caliber shells, the so-called NATO standard, and 152mm shells – the former Soviet standard.

Until now, the issue related to joint procurement has remained problematic. The disagreement was whether manufacturers from outside the EU could fall under these contracts. France advocated for the funds to remain entirely within the European Union.

Finally, at Wednesday's meeting, EU countries reached an agreement on approaches to joint procurement of ammunition for Ukraine for one billion euros. The details of the decision have yet to be discovered.