EU launches audit of security aid to Ukraine - media

That’s according to the Financial Times, referring to three informed sources in the EU, Ukrinform reports.

Sources say the audit is being conducted by the European External Action Service (EEAS), which intends to present the report to member states ahead of the extraordinary summit of EU leaders on February 1.

Diplomats noted that the audit will be based on materials submitted by EU states in response to EEAS inquiries.

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The verification has already faced resistance from some countries that are unwilling to publish full data, the report said.

The decision to launch the probe arose after the request of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to count and compare military supplies from EU countries to Ukraine.

Arms supplies to Ukraine, which are currently being scheduled by most of the EU member states, are too small, he told reporters, noting that the EU also needs an overview of what specific contribution the member states will make to support Ukraine throughout 2024.

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While Scholz's remarks were seen as a rebuke to other major EU powers, such as France and Italy, whose military pledges are much smaller, his public call for greater transparency has been privately supported by senior officials in Brussels, who believe some countries may provide Kyiv with more weapons at a critical moment of conflict.

Some EU countries besides Germany, particularly in the bloc's eastern part, are also pushing for an expansion of the European Peace Fund (EPF), a joint facility that partly finances arms shipments to Ukraine, to increase supplies and share the cost burden.

The EU needs to make sure that the EPF is back on track and that it can be used for further aid tranches to Ukraine, according to a senior EU diplomat. He added that without the EPF, some member states would not provide any military support.

The audit comes at a time when both Brussels and Washington are trying to find a political consensus that would allow them to approve new aid packages to Kyiv, together worth about $110 billion.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, since war-start, Germany has provided Ukraine with EUR 28 billion worth of aid and will continue to support the nation throughout 2024 as well.