| In a bold move, Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen told the Munich Security Conference her country would donate its entire stock of artillery to Ukraine, emptying its stockpile as a consequence. Such a commitment will for sure be of great help to the ammunition-deprived Ukrainian armed forces. They recently retreated from the city of Adviivka and must now ration their stocks to manage with the limited supplies coming from Europe as they wait for the Americans to unlock another military aid package. No one can deny it’s a great morale booster to know that one of your allies is ready to do so much. But what the Danish prime minister forgot to say is when the artillery will reach Ukraine and how much ammunition it has in stock to deliver (information likely to remain secret for national security reasons). As NATO and EU officials say, there is an important gap between the pledges and the deliveries. The uncertainty is so high that the EU’s External Action Service refuses to calculate member states’ contributions to the European peace facility based on their pledges alone. Since open information is rare on this sensitive topic, it is impossible to know exactly what and how much has reached Kyiv. Now, let’s imagine that the Danes are emptying their stockpiles and sending them to Ukraine as we speak. That would leave Denmark somewhat defenceless, jeopardising its defence readiness – an odd thing to imagine for a NATO country with a war raging in its neighbourhood. Copenhagen would be entirely dependent on other nations for its artillery needs if it were attacked before it managed to restock its warehouses. | 