EU lawmakers come up with 'innovative' ways to arm Ukraine.
(Baonghean.vn) - A group of MPs wants the EU to provide Ukraine with military equipment that the bloc blocked on its way to Libya. “The US is doing it, so why can’t we?” asked Bart Groothuis, a leading supporter of the idea.
This proposal was put forward by a Dutch MEP with the support of Nathalie Loiseau of France, chair of the European Parliament's defense subcommittee, and Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium.
Dutch television station RTL News recently reported that the weapons in question included two shipments seized by the EU's IRINI military mission on charges of violating the UN arms embargo against Libya. One shipment, consisting of 41 BATT UMG armored vehicles manufactured in the UAE, was intercepted in mid-October last year. This American-made product is based on the Ford F550 chassis and has been used by Ukraine. The other shipment, comprising over 100 modified Toyota off-road vehicles fitted with guns and some body armor, was seized last summer.
Modified civilian vehicles were very common among militant groups fighting in the 2011 Libyan civil war, in which NATO supported anti-government forces with an air campaign. The North African nation has remained divided between numerous groups and engulfed in violence for over a decade. MP Groothuis argued that diverting the vehicles, currently held in Marseille, France, to Ukraine would send “a very clear signal to Russia that Europe wants to do everything it can.”
In an interview with Politico, he cited the precedent of the US decision to supply approximately 1.1 million rounds of ammunition that it had seized in December. The shipment was believed to have been sent by Iran to Yemen. Groothuis urged the EU to take similar action and said he had presented the idea to the ambassadors of two member states, who were “very enthusiastic and praised the idea as very innovative.”
The U.S. and its allies have pledged to support Ukraine against Russia “for as long as it’s needed” to defeat Russia, but this commitment is now being undermined by several issues, including the limited amount of physical weapons that can be deployed in the Ukrainian conflict. Western donors are reportedly running out of old Soviet-era weapons, as well as NATO-standard weapons and ammunition they have in stockpiled. They are working to increase military production to meet Kyiv’s needs. In particular, the EU is lagging behind its commitment to send one million artillery shells to Kyiv by next spring, Bloomberg reported this week. To date, only about 30% of the promised quantity has been delivered.
