Western ammo stocks at ‘bottom of the barrel’ as Ukraine war drags on, NATO official warns
By: Brad Lendon, Radina Gigova, Fred Pleitgen and Kostyantin Gak (CNN)
The US arsenal of democracy needs to start working overtime. Translation: this is Joe Biden's war and Biden better deliver. The latest excuse du jour is the US budget impasse. The fate of the free world depends entirely upon the Federal budget of the United States. If Congress fails to authorize $6 billion for munitions then Europe will be overrun by an autocratic hoard which would be the end of civilization as we know it.
So, why doesn't NATO step up to buy those US munitions for delivery to Ukraine? Apparently $6 billion is more support than Europe can afford. You'd think that Europe would be pulling out all the stops since the war in Ukraine threatens the very existence of Europe. After all, if Kiev falls then Berlin, Paris, and London will be next.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
CNN — Western militaries are running out of ammunition to give to Ukraine, NATO and British officials warned Tuesday, as they urged the bloc’s nations to ramp up production to “keep Ukraine in the fight against Russian invaders.”
The news of possible ammunition shortfalls comes after money to buy weapons for Ukraine was not included in a stopgap spending bill the US Congress passed at the weekend to avoid a federal government shutdown.
Fresh uncertainty over the future of US aid arose Tuesday when US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who advocated for support of Ukraine, was ousted from his leadership position by Republican colleagues.
The developments are troubling news for Ukraine as the war with neighboring Russia is in its 20th month and raises questions over whether Moscow may feel able to outlast western commitment promises.
“The bottom of the barrel is now visible,” Adm. Rob Bauer of the Netherlands, the chair of the NATO Military Committee and NATO’s most senior military official, said of the West’s ammunition stockpile Tuesday during a discussion at the Warsaw Security Forum.
“We give away weapons systems to Ukraine, which is great, and ammunition, but not from full warehouses. We started to give away from half-full or lower warehouses in Europe” and those stores are now running low, Bauer said.
James Heappey, minister of state for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, speaking at the same panel as Bauer, said even though stockpiles may be thin, aid for Kyiv must continue and Western countries need to increase their capacity to make more ammo.
“We have to keep Ukraine in the fight tonight and tomorrow and the day after and the day after,” Heappey said. That means, “continuing to give, day in day out, and rebuilding our own stockpiles,” he added.
Meanwhile, analysts are warning that the US “arsenal of democracy” needs to start working overtime or Ukraine’s war effort may be in trouble.
“The United States and its allies are sending to Ukraine a wide range of munitions, but they are not being produced or delivered as quickly as needed,” Atlantic Council nonresident senior fellow Thomas Warrick wrote last week.
Warrick wrote that as Ukraine delayed the start of summer offensive to get more ammo and equipment to the front lines, Russia was able to build up defenses that have significantly blunted Ukrainian advances.
“Ukraine’s forces have proven themselves flexible and adaptive, but they need to have sufficient ammunition and weapons,” he wrote.
But events in Washington are placing supplies – and Ukraine’s standing on the battlefield – in doubt.
“An inability to ensure timely procurement and deliveries could undermine essential Ukrainian operations to retake additional territory or defend against potential future Russian offensives,” US Undersecretary of Defense Michael McCord wrote in a letter to congressional leadership on Friday as the spending bill that ultimately eliminated aid for Ukraine was being negotiated.
“Without additional funding now, we would have to delay or curtail assistance to meet Ukraine’s urgent requirements, including for air defense and ammunition that are critical and urgent now as Russia prepares to conduct a winter offensive and continues its bombardment of Ukrainian cities,” McCord wrote.
On the battlefield, there were signs of shortages and a desire for more modern weapons.
“We are very low on ammo,” Myron, of the 80th Airborne Assault Brigade, told CNN Wednesday. “Every time we fire a round we have to take a decision, is it expedient. We count every round.”
Alex, from the same brigade, was operating a Soviet-made rocket launcher. “It’s not very precise,” he said. “It also depends on the weather, range. It would be good to have more precise rockets or guided ones.”
“It’s not very precise. It also depends on the weather, range. It would be good to have more precise rockets or guided ones.”
US military aid to Ukraine has amounted to a staggering $46.6 billion from the war’s start through July 31, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. NATO allies have contributed billions more.
But military leaders acknowledge ammo especially is being used at a staggering rate on the Ukraine battlefields.
Ukrainian troops typically fire between 2,000 and 3,000 artillery shells per day at Russian forces, a US defense official told CNN in July.
The Pentagon said in July it had provided Ukraine with more than 2 million artillery rounds to date.
“This is an artillery intensive fight,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the time. “You know, we’ve seen large amounts of artillery be employed on both sides of the fence. And so that puts a strain on the international supply of munitions, artillery munitions.”
At the time, Washington’s supplies of NATO standard 155mm artillery rounds were so low that it was decided to supply Ukraine with controversial cluster munitions.
Frederik Pleitgen and Kostya Gak contributed to this report.
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Dollars for democracy. Fake crisis. Fake war. Fake democracy. Summation of Biden's 50 year political career.
Europe has already passed its breaking point. Can we really afford 4 more years of Biden?
“Fake war.”
Tell that to the thousands who live with the attempted annexation of their homeland, the thousands who have lost their homes, the thousands who have buried and mourned their family members and countrymen.
Tell us if any of that is ‘fake’.
Why not tell that to the Ukrainians in eastern Ukraine that Kiev has been shelling since 2014? Russia annexed Crimea and the unelected government in Kiev sent tanks into Donetsk and Luhansk at the other end of the country.
We're told that the fighting in Ukraine between 2014 and 2022 wasn't a real war; it was a fake war. Obama lied and Ukrainians died. Now it's Biden's turn.
Fake President is fighting a fake war.
There is something seriously wrong with the 'thinking' process of anyone who would say/think/believe such outright mindboggingly/dumbfoundingly/stupefyingly/unbelievable, I have to make up new words because I don't even have the words for something so shameful and deplorable.
Can we really afford 4 more years of magats?
No, your hero, the former 'president', is the fake president.
He is traitorous scum and you're voting for the turd.
MAGA didn't drag the United States into an eastern European quagmire. Biden botched the end of the war in Afghanistan. And Biden botched the start of the war in Ukraine.
So this is all some whackjob conspiracy theory and how many thousands have been lost due to this 'fake war'?
No, everything you say is false. Everything.
Neither did President Biden - it was the murdering thug scum bastard putin.
President Biden had nothing to do with the war ON Ukraine. That was your hero thug putin murdering bastard scum.
Delusion
Biden's election to PotUS fueled it. Consensus is he wouldn't have done it had Trump won. Biden is weak and Putin knew it.
Prezactly! (for our liberal friends, that is a combination of precisely and exactly) And showed the incompetence putin was hoping for.
Watching far-right wing Trumpist traitors fawn all over Putin disgusts me.
I have no problem with running Russia out of men and munitions while seeing the West just ramp up production and keeping our soldiers out of it.
Seems to be a win-win for America and NATO.
Exactly, it’s a topsy turby world, it used to be the Dems loved the USSR and now many Repubs love Russia.
It was Trump who set the timeframe for the Afghanistan pullout, not Biden.
It was Trump's buddy Putin who invaded Ukraine.
It was NATO who provided the timely response,
The traitor Trump tried to pull the US out of NATO.
No, the former 'president' is little putin's puppet and we all know that
It's deplorable and shameful. Defense of the indefensible, as usual.
fuck that bullshit 'consensus'
Trump's timeline was not followed. come up with something more believable.
Putin is Trump's buddy like Pelosi is my buddy.
Trump never pulled out of NATO, but I get why things must be invented to avoid laying any blame on Biden for anything ever.
Were you surprised when Putin lied to you?
That's deplorable yet typical. Shameful.
And the American Military Industrial Complex is licking its chops and rubbing its palms together with glee and gratitude and saying "Thank you, American taxpayers, thank you so much. Sorry for the Hawaiians and Floridians who have recently lost so much of their lives, but American taxpayers' money is better spent with us. Sorry if we're absent for a little while, we're out buying ourselves French vineyards, English castles, NYC penthouses and Bahamas islands for our "efforts.""
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Ukraine was the world's fourth largest military arms exporter before the war in Donbas started in 2014. The Ukrainian defense industries are profiting from the destruction of their own country.
Interesting - I never knew that.
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