Denmark’s prime minister pledged all of his country’s ammunition stockpiles to Kiev and urged other countries to do the same.
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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (left) speaks to the media, with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (center in the background) looking on, at the future site of a weapons factory where weapons manufacturer Rheinmetall plans to produce artillery shells. Visiting a production line. 2025, Unterlus, Germany, February 12, 2024. (AP)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Denmark would move its entire ammunition stockpile to Ukraine and called on other European Union countries to follow suit.
Denmark’s Prime Minister called on EU countries that are not currently using their stockpiles to transfer them to Kiev.
“If you ask the Ukrainians, they want us to give them ammunition now, artillery now. On the Danish side, we decided to donate all our artillery. Sorry, friends. But ammunition is still in stock in Europe,” Frederiksen said.
“This is not just a matter of production, because we have weapons, ammunition and air defense, and there is no need to use them ourselves at this moment, which should be delivered to Ukraine,” the Danish Prime Minister stressed. Munich Security Conference.
Frederiksen’s pledge to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government came after Russian forces drove out Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka in Donetsk. Avdiivka is home to the region’s largest coke and chemical factory and is a hotspot for attacks on Donetsk’s civilian areas.
Despite constant support from Western countries, the Ukrainian army was unable to hold its position in Avdiivka. Importantly, Russia’s accession to Avdiivka comes against the backdrop of a large-scale counteroffensive launched by Kiev in the summer of 2023, which resulted in no real gains for the Zelenskiy government.
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President Putin congratulates Russian military
Earlier on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the military’s capture of Avdiivka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) as an “important victory.”
“The president congratulated our troops and combatants on such an important victory and success,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state news agency.
Avdiivka is a “strong defensive position” for Ukrainian forces, and its capture would “move the front line away from Donetsk” and reduce Ukraine’s ability to bombard Russian territory, the defense ministry said. The ministry also emphasized that the losses of the Ukrainian army in the battle of Avdiivka reached more than 1,500 people in the past 24 hours.
Kiev had previously announced the withdrawal of troops from the town, saying the move was to reduce military casualties amid strained resources. The artillery shells that Denmark is considering transferring to Ukraine have proven vital to the country’s military strategy amid a failed counterattack against Russian forces. Demand for 155mm shells has recently surged as they are frequently used by NATO and its allies, including Ukraine and Israel, which continues to bombard the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon.
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