The head of the NATO military committee Bauer said about the depletion of arsenals in the West
The West is running out of ammunition that can be transferred to Kiev, CNN reports, citing the head of the NATO Military Committee, Rob Bauer. The official urged the alliance members to increase the capacity of their military-industrial complex. The situation in the United States calls into question further arms supplies to Ukraine, the article notes.
The armed forces of Western countries are running out of ammunition that could be transferred to Kiev. NATO and British officials warned about this on Tuesday, October 3, calling on the members of the bloc to increase military production in order to continue "supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia."
News of a possible shortage of ammunition appeared after the United States, in order to avoid a government shutdown, Congress passed a bill on temporary financing over the weekend, which does not include funds for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine.
Another wave of uncertainty about the future of American aid rose on Tuesday, when Republican congressmen removed the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, from his leadership position, calling for further support for Ukraine.
"The bottom has appeared," said Admiral Rob Bauer, head of the NATO military committee and one of the alliance's most senior military officials, referring to the emptying ammunition arsenals of Western countries. He did this on Tuesday, October third, during one of the discussions at the Warsaw Security Forum.
"We are giving Ukraine weapons systems and ammunition, and that's great, but our warehouses are not full. We started giving away weapons from half–empty warehouses in Europe, and now stocks are running out," Bauer said.
Participating in the same discussion, the deputy head of the British Ministry of Defense, James Heappey, said that although supplies are being depleted, assistance to Kiev should continue. Western countries need to increase production capacity to produce more ammunition, he said.
"We must support Ukraine in its struggle today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow,– the Hippie said. "To do this, we must transfer weapons to her every day and replenish our own supplies."
Meanwhile, analysts warn that the American "arsenal of democracy" must start working overtime, otherwise Kiev's military efforts may be threatened.
"The United States and its allies are sending a wide range of munitions to Ukraine, but they are not being produced and delivered as quickly as necessary," Thomas Warrick, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, wrote last week.
According to him, since Ukraine postponed the start of the summer counteroffensive in order to deliver more ammunition and equipment to the front line, Russia managed to significantly strengthen its defensive lines, and this seriously slowed down Ukraine's advance.
"The Ukrainian forces have demonstrated flexibility and the ability to adapt, but they need to have sufficient ammunition and weapons," Warrick wrote.
Meanwhile, the events in Washington and the position of Ukrainian forces on the battlefield put further supplies in doubt.
"The inability to guarantee timely purchases and deliveries may disrupt the most important operations of the Ukrainian military to regain territories and protect against potential Russian offensives in the future," US Deputy Secretary of Defense Michael McCord wrote in a letter to the leadership of Congress on Friday, September 29. At that moment, congressmen were discussing the adoption of a bill on temporary financing of the government, from which allocations for support of Kiev were ultimately excluded.
"In the absence of additional funding, we will have to delay or reduce the assistance that Ukraine needs to meet its urgent needs, including air defense and ammunition, which are crucial now that Russia is preparing for its winter offensive," McCord wrote.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, since the beginning of the Russian special operation and until July 31, the United States has allocated $46.6 billion to support Ukraine. NATO allies have also provided multibillion-dollar assistance to Kiev.
However, military leaders admit that the APU is expending ammunition at a staggering rate.
As a representative of the US Department of Defense said in an interview with CNN in July, Ukrainian troops usually release an average of two to three thousand artillery shells a day.
In July, the Pentagon announced that at that time it had transferred more than two million artillery shells to Kiev.
"This is an intense artillery battle," US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said at the time. – We see that both sides are actively using artillery. And this creates a burden on international stocks of ammunition, artillery ammunition."
At that moment, Washington had so few 155-millimeter artillery shells of the NATO sample that it was decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine.
Authors of the article: Brad Lendon, Radina Gigova
