India has hundreds of thousands of artillery shells, which it does not want to openly transfer to Ukraine due to friendly relations with the Russian Federation. German officials are trying to secretly negotiate with India to buy ammunition through intermediaries.
Germany looks for ammunition for Ukraine.
The German magazine Der Spiegel cites sources and writes that a group of officers, diplomats and civil servants from the German Chancellery, Finance and Economic Departments meets in Berlin every two weeks.
They discuss which countries can be turned to for ammunition and how to convince them.
For example, India has large quantities of several hundreds of thousands of ammunition, but they do not want to transfer them to Ukraine openly. Berlin believes similar agreements on the purchase of ammunition are possible with Arab countries.
Some of these countries have large stockpiles of ammunition. In addition, according to experts, reserves may be in the Balkans and Africa.
A seeking for ammunition for Ukraine
Despite the ammunition situation, the European Union is still arguing about money.
France insists that ammo and weapons be purchased with EU money only from European companies and not from third countries, which would be able to deliver quickly.
Ukrainian Armed Forces are currently facing an acute shortage of artillery shells.
On Feb 24, the Ukrainian MFA chief, Dmytro Kuleba, announced that the EU plans to supply Kyiv with almost 170,000 rounds by the end of March.
Two days later, Kuleba confirmed that amid the shortage of ammunition, Western countries are looking for it in third countries.
There is a solution, where and how to get shells [for Ukraine]. Now — it will not be a secret — in third countries, that is, the partners have to buy shells in third countries and transfer them to Ukraine.
