(MENAFN- UkrinForm) On Saturday, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen called on Western countries to increase support for Ukraine.
Yle reported this, according to Ukrinform.
Antti Häkkänen believes that Europe has not realized the seriousness of the war through the prism of history and has not provided Ukraine with sufficient support.
The goal of the European Union is to supply Ukraine with one million artillery shells in 2024.
Earlier, the Czech Republic reported the discovery of 800,000 pieces of artillery ammunition in countries outside the EU. The country appealed to other EU and NATO member states to help finance the purchase, the article says.
Read also: Finland sets no restrictions on Ukraine's use of weapons provide
The estimated value of the discovered ammunition is about 1.3 billion euros, but no decision on funding has been made yet.
"Funds to support armaments in Ukraine must be found immediately," Häkkänen said.
In addition, the head of the Finnish defense ministry emphasized the importance of increasing the EU's own arms production. According to the minister, there have already been some successes in this regard.
"European countries have been able to increase their production, and they are close to achieving the goal," he said.
As reported, on Thursday, the Czech Republic expressed hope that as many EU countries as possible would join its initiative to purchase ammunition and military equipment from third countries, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces desperately need.
Read also: Zelensky,
Finland 's president discuss Ukraine's defense needs
A day earlier, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Kroo said that Belgium would allocate 200 million euros to the Czech Republic's initiative to quickly deliver hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to Ukraine.
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