“The consumption of shells turned out to be unexpected”: how the West intends to supply Ukraine with ammunition

The United States announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine, which includes ammunition for HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems and howitzers, as well as ammunition for Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and technical equipment.

This is stated in a statement by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, published on the website of the State Department.

According to Blinken, until Russia completes a special military operation in Ukraine, Washington will support Kiev "as long as it takes" and strengthen the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the battlefield to put the Ukrainian regime "in the strongest position at the negotiating table."

In turn, the European Union also plans to supply Ukraine with €1 billion worth of artillery ammunition allocated from the European Peace Fund “within weeks”.

This was reported by the Financial Times (FT) newspaper, which obtained the relevant document from the European External Action Service.

As journalists clarify, this fund is used "to reimburse countries for funds spent on the purchase of weapons for Ukraine."

According to an unnamed European official, the EU defense agency will subsequently "conduct an accelerated procedure to enter into direct negotiations with a number of key industrial suppliers in Europe."

According to the FT, there are 12 companies in the EU that manufacture 155mm shells.

Already next week, the defense ministers of the countries of the European Union are planning to discuss an initiative to jointly purchase ammunition for Kyiv and replace their own stocks.

“I think this (offer.

) will be accepted very quickly.

In my opinion, this is a matter of days or weeks, not months, ”one of the European officials told the publication on condition of anonymity.

At the same time, FT journalists believe that EU countries are struggling to provide sufficient supplies “to maintain the intensity of Ukrainian fire”, as their own stocks are depleted, and the defense industry “lacks the capacity to quickly replenish them.”

At the same time, according to the American magazine Newsweek, the long process of supplying ammunition makes NATO equipment useless for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“One of the main factors is the time it takes the US Department of Defense to award contracts to private industrial enterprises for the supply of such materiel as ammunition.

Without them, equipment, in particular the main battle tanks M1 Abrams, (BMP.

) Bradley and various artillery pieces in service with Ukraine are useless, ”the article says.

• M1 Abrams battle tanks

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto

One of the main problems of long-term supply of ammunition, the publication calls the long process of concluding contracts between the Pentagon and private industry.

“Over the past ten years, the time to award a contract for the supply of ammunition has increased from approximately 200 to more than 400 days.

For comparison: the hypothetical contract considered on the first day of this conflict (in Ukraine. -

) most likely has not yet been awarded, not to mention the fact that no ammunition provided for by this contract has been delivered to the theater of operations.

This is unacceptable,” writes Newsweek.

Recall that earlier the Deputy head of the Pentagon, Colin Kahl, said at a congressional hearing that the fighting in Ukraine showed the inability of the American military-industrial complex to produce the required number of ammunition.

According to him, now Washington is faced with a priority task - to increase the volume of production of shells.

"Where is more power"

It is worth noting that the West has repeatedly heard statements indicating the existence of problems with the supply of ammunition to Ukraine.

So, on February 19, at a security conference in Munich, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that the Kiev regime allegedly receives few shells and called on Europe to increase the supply of ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to Borrell, it is important that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "be applauded less, but be supplied with ammunition."

After that, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau told reporters that the European Union is discussing the acquisition of shells for the Armed Forces of Ukraine outside the EU, since they do not have time to produce them in Europe.

However, according to him, "there are not too many such sources."

In turn, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez, speaking at a press conference following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, said that the majority of representatives of EU member states supported the idea of ​​joint purchases of ammunition and weapons for Kiev.

At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in an interview with Sky News on February 24, was forced to admit that the supply of ammunition to Ukraine "is not sustainable", since their "consumption is much higher" than the production rate in the countries of the alliance.

According to him, the only way to maintain military support for Kyiv is "to interact with the defense industry."

The murderous needs of the APU

As Vladimir Batyuk, head of the Center for Military-Political Studies of the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted, “there is nothing new for Kyiv in the next Pentagon tranche” - the stake is expectedly placed on ammunition.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine really need them now.

But another thing is that, in addition to shells, Kyiv is also waiting for something much larger, including tank equipment and fighter-bombers.

But both Washington and the EU countries are in no hurry with this due to the difficulties of logistics and the realization that they themselves lack these weapons for their national defense.

The West is also running out of ammunition, and the military industry in the conditions of the energy crisis will be unable to produce them quickly, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

For this reason, the EU is considering options for purchasing shells outside the European Union, and Washington is trying to convince Berlin to transfer its production to the United States, Batyuk said.

“However, these ideas are still quite illusory.

It will take time to transfer even part of the German military-industrial complex.

And not too many countries will sell shells to the EU for Kyiv, since no one can afford to transfer their military-industrial complex to work mainly for external customers, ”the analyst said.

• European Commission

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Michele Spatari/NurPhoto

In turn, Candidate of Political Sciences, Associate Professor of the Academy of Labor and Social Relations Pavel Feldman said that the new US tranche for Ukraine and the discussion in the EU of possible purchases of shells for the Armed Forces of Ukraine are intended to demonstrate to Kiev and Moscow that the Ukrainian case is a priority for the West in their foreign policy .

“NATO, led by the United States, sees this conflict as a front of confrontation with Russia, where the West acts as a full-fledged party to the conflict.

Otherwise, the countries of the bloc would not have given their last ammunition to Kyiv, ”the expert said in a commentary to RT.

At the same time, Feldman believes that Washington managed to “push through” its European NATO partners and make them even more dependent on itself, since they transferred almost all their ammunition and weapons to Kyiv.

“Who can make up for the losses of the EU at this stage, when the military-industrial complex of the union has not yet been launched at full capacity?

Of course, USA.

The countries of the European Union found themselves in an even more dependent position on Washington than before in matters of security.

In addition, the US will not provide shells to the EU for free.

Thus, the States solve two problems at once: they earn money by helping their own military-industrial complex, and increase the degree of Europe's dependence on themselves, ”the analyst emphasized.

At the same time, experts agree that, despite the efforts of the United States and its European partners, in the medium term they will not be able to ensure the pace of work of the military-industrial complex that is needed to maintain the combat capability of Ukraine "with its colossal needs."

“In this regard, both Washington and Brussels will increasingly try to involve third countries, such as South Korea or other Asian partners, in the process of military support for Kyiv.

However, they also do not have an endless resource for the production and supply of artillery shells, ”said Feldman.

If the West fails to solve the problem with the supply of ammunition to Kyiv, a significant reduction in their number will have “extremely negative consequences on the battlefield” for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Batyuk said. 

“The consumption of ammunition that takes place in Ukraine turned out to be completely unexpected for the allies of Kyiv.

Therefore, Western countries are now at a loss and are rushing around the world in the hope of finding ammunition suppliers in order to somehow satisfy the shell hunger of Kyiv, ”concluded the expert.