Nearly 500 intellectuals have signed an appeal addressed to state leaders of the Ramstein coalition’s member countries with the call for increased military aid to Ukraine, the Lithuanian Tribune reported on 27 February.
Ukraine faces a significant shortage of ammunition on the front line. Ukrainian troops are firing about 2,000 155mm shells daily, while Russia a third more. The EU has committed to significant ammunition donations, with a target of one million rounds by March 2024. However, progress has been slower than anticipated, with only 330,000 rounds donated so far.
The appeal is signed by professors, researchers, writers, and former officials from France, Belgium, the US, Australia, Greece, Romania, Germany, Spain, the UK, etc.
The document, titled “Appeal to the Heads of State and Government of the member countries of the Ramstein coalition,’ criticizes some European countries for offering “only extremely modest bilateral military aid to Ukraine,” according to the Lithuanian Tribune.
The appeal singles out Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France as “among the most parsimonious members of the Ramstein coalition.” It states, “They are thus taking advantage of the generosity of their allies, betraying their own past leadership and undermining the cohesion of Europe.”
According to the appeal, “The volume of military aid from all the countries in the Ramstein coalition has reached its lowest level for many months, at $ 1 billion a month.” In contrast, Russia has increased its defense budget by almost 70% compared to 2023, taking it to 10.78 trillion rubles ($121.3 billion). This compares with Ukraine’s budget of $ 44 billion.
The signatories argue that the debate between providing aid “for as long as it takes” and supplying Ukraine with what it needs “to win as quickly as possible” is obsolete. Instead, they call for a dual approach: “Provide arms in quantity and quality on the one hand, and over time on the other.”
“As shown by the Budapest Memorandum, security guarantees are usually not worth the paper they are written on. Today, the only real guarantee of security we can offer Ukraine is to supply it with arms in sufficient quantity and quality,” said the statement.
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