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Council of EU agrees one bln euro support to Ukraine under the European Peace Facility

Earlier, Josep Borrell said that diplomatic peace talks currently made no sense and the EU needed to focus on sending weapons to Ukraine

BRUSSELS, May 5. /TASS/. The Council of the European Union has adopted an assistance measure worth one bln euros for the procurement of ammunition for Ukraine, according to a statement released on Friday.

"The Council today adopted an assistance measure worth €1 billion under the European Peace Facility (EPF) that will further contribute to strengthening the capabilities and resilience of Ukraine," the statement reads.

"The assistance measure will finance the provision to the Ukrainian Armed Forces of 155-mm-caliber artillery rounds and, if requested, missiles which will be jointly procured by EU member states from the European defense industry," the council added.

According to the statement, "to be eligible for EPF reimbursement, procurement contracts or purchase orders will need to be concluded before September 30, 2023, in the context of an existing European Defence Agency (EDA) project or through complementary joint acquisition projects led by a member state." Notably, "the measure will support joint procurement of ammunition and missiles from economic operators established in the EU or Norway, and producing these ammunition and missiles in the EU or Norway."

"Together with the previous decision to swiftly provide ammunition from existing stocks, we are committing €2 billion to this purpose, bringing the total EU military support to Ukraine to €5.6 billion," the statement cited EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell as saying.

Borrell said earlier on Friday that diplomatic peace talks currently made no sense and the EU needed to focus on sending weapons to Ukraine.

On May 3, the European Commission unveiled a 500-million-euro plan to boost the European defense industry which has a focus on the production of artillery, mortar and missile ammunition.

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