The war in Ukraine has depleted the European Union's arms stockpile and shown it lacks basic defense capabilities to defend itself in the event of a conflict, Spain's Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, warned today.

Josep Borel Fonteles is a Spanish politician from the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, quoted by France Press.

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We lack the capabilities we need to defend against a higher level of threat as a result of years of underinvestment, he said in an address to the European Defense Agency (EDA).

We are facing real threats.

We'd rather not have to deal with them, but they're there, nearby, and likely to fester.

I don't want to be like Cassandra the prophetess who delivers the bad news, but that's the reality, he noted.

Russia's war against Ukraine has been a brutal awakening for many of us, Borrell said.

Josep Borel: 1,100 Ukrainian soldiers are being trained on the territory of the European Union

The military support given by the EU to Ukraine comes from army stocks, and everyone agrees that those stocks were quickly depleted because they were almost non-existent, he said.

This support amounts to almost 9 billion euros, 3.1 billion euros of which come from the European Peace Fund, Borel specified at the beginning of December.

Member states and their armed forces must cooperate more to continue supporting Ukraine and start preparing for the future, he urged.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Josep Borrell

European Union

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