EU Lawmakers suggests innovative methods to arm Ukraine
Date
10/29/2023 3:02:39 AM
(MENAFN) A group of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) is advocating for the European Union to provide Ukraine with military vehicles that were intercepted by the bloc en route to Libya. The leading proponent of this idea, Dutch MEP Bart Groothuis, argues that if the United States is engaged in similar efforts, the European Union should also consider this approach.
The proposal, supported by influential figures like France’s Nathalie Loiseau, Chair of the European Parliament’s defense subcommittee, and Belgium’s Guy Verhofstadt, centers around two shipments seized by the European Union's military mission IRINI for allegedly violating the United Nations arms embargo targeting Libya. The first shipment, intercepted in mid-October 2022, included 41 BATT UMG armored vehicles produced in the United Arab Emirates, a product already in use by Ukraine. The second batch consisted of over 100 Toyota off-road vehicles, modified to incorporate mounted weaponry and additional armor, seized in the summer of the same year.
These converted civilian vehicles gained popularity among militant groups during the 2011 civil war in Libya, a conflict where NATO supported anti-government forces through an air campaign. Since then, Libya has struggled with ongoing violence and fragmentation among various factions.
Groothuis emphasized that redirecting these detained vehicles, currently held in Marseille, France, to Ukraine would serve as a powerful statement of Europe's commitment to bolstering Ukraine's defense capabilities and send a clear signal to Russia about the European Unino's determination to support Ukraine.
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