Brussels, 31 January 2024 (dpa/MIA) - The European Union will not reach its target to deliver 1 million rounds of artillery shells to Ukraine within a year, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell admitted on Wednesday.

Defending EU efforts as a "work in progress," Borrell said that deliveries to Ukraine will now reach 524,000.

This amounts to just 52% of the target, Borrell said at a press conference after an informal meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels.

He outlined a new target of more than 1 million shells by the end of 2024, with 630,000 shells under production, according to data from EU member states.

EU member states had pledged to supply Ukraine with 1 million 155-millimetre shells in its defence against Russia by March 2024 but struggled throughout last year to meet the delivery timeline.

On March 20, 2023, EU member states promised Ukraine they would provide 1 million new artillery shells within 12 months.

They were to be organized from the stocks of EU countries, but also via new joint procurement projects with the aim of preventing shortages in the Ukrainian armed forces.

However, new commitments from the EU for military aid for Kiev have been stalling in recent months, as the bloc is struggling to beef up arms production capacities.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in November at a previous meeting of EU defence ministers that the bloc would miss the target. "The 1-million target will not be reached, we have to assume that," he said.

The admission from Borrell comes as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on other EU states to provide greater military support for Ukraine.

Military support for Ukraine "cannot depend on Germany alone," Scholz said ahead of a special EU summit on aid for Ukraine in its ongoing war against the fully fledged Russian invasion.

Scholz said that Germany has supplied Ukraine more aid than any other country after the United States, and accounts for half of the total aid for Ukraine from Europe.

"And if we were the ones who had to do most of that, then it wouldn't be enough for Ukraine. We want more countries to play an active role in providing support," said Scholz.

Photo: EPA