Kremlin suggests Europe is struggling to mobilise its arms industries for Ukraine

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin suggested on Wednesday that many European countries were starting to face difficulties when it came to mobilising their military-industrial industries to help Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about the French and German arms industries, but he did not name any European countries himself or say how or why they were allegedly struggling to help Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that work continued regarding military supplies for Ukraine while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a 1.4 billion euro ($1.53 billion) military aid package for Kyiv by the end of 2024.

Peskov suggested there were problems though.

“This mobilisation of capabilities for ephemeral goals is contrary to the interests of the economic development of these countries, and clearly the capacities of these countries are not designed for such efforts,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“In time, we hope, an understanding that such spending is unnecessary will become sharper and will sink in among more and more of the political establishment of these countries.”

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)