Zbigniew Rau made the appeal after a meeting with fellow EU top diplomats in Luxembourg on Monday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) get-together focused on Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and the EU's action plan on the geopolitical consequences of the Russian invasion, according to officials.
The EU foreign ministers discussed support for Ukraine, including the bloc’s plan to provide Kyiv with artillery ammunition, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Poland’s foreign minister told reporters afterwards: “We must urgently supply Ukraine with ammunition.”
Under the EU’s three-track plan to provide Ukraine with 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition, member countries are supplying Ukraine with shells from existing stocks, after allocating EUR 1 billion for the purpose, according to officials.
However, there is no agreement on the second part of the plan involving joint procurement of munitions for Ukraine, the IAR news agency reported.
This is due to the position of France, which is pushing for ammunition to be bought only from European companies, or those using European components, according to IAR.
Part three of the plan is to ramp up Europe's defence production capacity, officials said.
‘Ammunition for Ukraine should be bought wherever it can be bought’: Polish FM
Speaking to reporters in Luxembourg, Poland’s Rau commented that “ammunition for Ukraine should be bought wherever it can be bought quickly.”
He added: “Of course, European producers should be given a priority, but … right now we must help Ukraine by buying [ammunition] wherever possible and this view was held by an absolute majority of EU foreign ministers.”
Poland’s top diplomat said he hoped EU countries would eventually reach an agreement on joint procurement of ammunition for Ukraine.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, struck a similar tone, warning that “we are in a situation of extreme urgency,” and adding he was confident that the EU would finalise a plan to buy ammunition for Ukraine “in the following days,” the Reuters news agency reported.
New EU sanctions package against Russia ‘under discussion’: Polish FM
Rau also told reporters that the EU was discussing the next, 11th package of bloc-wide punitive measures against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, which he said could be adopted “no sooner than in May,” the PAP news agency reported.
The Polish foreign minister said that various countries were proposing new sanctions on Russia, with Warsaw advocating for “a ban on Russian diamonds,” among other proposals.
Rau stated, as quoted by the PAP news agency: “I would also expect sanctions on the individuals who are responsible for the abductions of Ukrainian children to Russia, but also on officials in the Russian justice system, who are culpable for the persecution in courts of Russia’s opposition activists.”
Tuesday is day 426 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, consilium.europa.eu