Seven EU countries have ordered ammunition under a landmark EU procurement scheme to get urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine and replenish depleted Western stocks, according to the EU agency in charge, Reuters reports.

Orders have been placed for 155mm artillery rounds, one of the most vital munitions in the ongoing war of attrition between Ukraine’s troops and Russian invaders. The European Defence Agency had negotiated the contracts for these rounds.

The plan to provide Ukraine with a million shells and missiles within a year was launched in March as part of a scheme worth at least €2 billion.

Until now, defense procurement had mainly been the domain of the bloc’s 27 individual member governments.

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