By Pauline Foret and Anna Peverieri
(Reuters) – Ukraine’s share in European Union arms and ammunition exports rose to 34.2% in the second quarter of this year, up from 19.7% a year earlier, while its share in explosives exports soared to 16.5% from 1.7% a year earlier, the EU statistics office (Eurostat) said on Friday.
Arms, ammunitions and explosives represent the product groups with the highest increase in Ukraine’s share since 2023. All other products that make up most of the EU’s exports to its Eastern neighbour – which include coffee and tea, oilseeds, textiles, fuels, waste and raw hides – also showed smaller increases, with the exception of fertilisers, Eurostat’s data shows.
As Ukraine is urging its Western allies to ramp up their ammunition deliveries, this trend shows no signs of declining yet, with major European defence companies such as Germany’s Rheinmetall, France’s Thales, Sweden’s Saab, England’s BAE, Czechia’s CGS and Italy’s Leonardo either ramping up production or signing agreements with the Ukrainian military for the upcoming months.
France’s Ministry of Defence had also declared this March it was ready to use its powers to speed up the production of arms and shells needed in Ukraine by prioritising or requisitioning industrial capacities.
Earlier this month, reports that Germany would reject any new requests for military aid from Ukraine due to budget cuts sent most European defence stocks down. The German Federal government later denied the report, allowing for defence stocks to recover.
Overall, exports to Ukraine rose 6.5% from the first quarter, reaching a peak in the second quarter of 2024, according to the data published by Eurostat.
(Reporting by Pauline Foret and Anna Peverieri in Gdansk; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
