U.S. taps Israeli stockpile to aid Ukraine as military aid stretches

　　China News Service, January 18 (Xinhua) According to the "New York Times" report on the 17th local time, U.S. and Israeli officials said that the Pentagon is using U.S. ammunition reserves stored in Israel to assist Ukraine to meet Ukraine's urgent need for artillery shells.

　　According to U.S. and Israeli officials, about half of the planned shipment of 300,000 artillery shells to Ukraine has already been sent to Europe and will eventually be delivered through Poland.

　　According to reports, the Ukraine crisis has evolved into a "war of attrition" with shells at its core.

Uzbekistan's weapons and ammunition reserves are obviously insufficient, so it can only use cannons and shells donated by the United States and other Western countries.

However, the production speed of U.S. arms manufacturers has been unable to keep up with Ukraine's consumption of ammunition. The stretched U.S. can only continue to assist Ukraine by using artillery shells stored in South Korea and Israel.

　　Western officials say the Ukrainian military uses about 90,000 artillery shells a month, about twice as much as the United States and European countries produce.

In order to meet the continuous consumption of Ukraine, the United States had to use the stockpile.

　　According to a Reuters tally, the U.S. has shipped or promised to send more than 1 million 155mm artillery shells to Ukraine.

Much of that comes from stockpiles in Israel and South Korea, said a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

　　Kaufman, a Russian military expert at CNA, a non-profit think tank in Virginia, said that it is "questionable" whether the United States uses stockpiles to make up the difference.

　　To avoid damaging relations with Russia, Israel has always refused to provide weapons to Ukraine.

But in the face of the ammunition transfer plan proposed by the United States, Israel had to agree to avoid tension with the United States.

　　Israeli officials said Israel has never changed its stance on refusing to supply deadly weapons to Ukraine, and that the move was simply "to allow the United States to use its own ammunition."