Western military equipment supplied to Kyiv will be useless due to the long process of registration in the United States of contracts for the supply of ammunition. Columnist Caleb Larson writes about this in an article for Newsweek dated March 2.
According to him, the process of concluding contracts between the Pentagon and private industry takes a long time – over the past ten years, this time has increased from about 200 to more than 400 days.
“The hypothetical contract, considered on the first day of the conflict, most likely would not have been concluded yet, not to mention that none of the ammunition would have been delivered to the theater of operations,” the observer cited an example.
On Feb. 14, the Politico newspaper reported that the Ukrainian military would be trained in maneuvering to use fewer artillery shells as Western arsenals dwindle. In particular, it was specified that Washington’s concern about the stockpiles of weapons and ammunition is growing.
On February 12, former adviser to the head of the Pentagon, Colonel Douglas McGregor, said that Washington and its allies were running out of resources for further military assistance to Ukraine. He pointed out that Western countries, in particular, quickly depleted their stocks of NASAMS and HIMARS missiles, and they have no reserve capacity. In parallel, the Russian army was able to quickly increase production.
On February 10, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Igor Zhovkva said that Kyiv had almost no ammunition left. According to him, the ammunition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) ends very quickly due to the intensity of the fighting.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned the supply of arms to Ukraine. So, on January 16, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that a new round of supplies to Ukraine of more advanced military equipment could “only drag out the whole story and bring more trouble to Kyiv.”
Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine after the start of Russia’s special operation to protect Donbass. The decision on the special operation was made by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin against the backdrop of the aggravation of the situation in the region as a result of increased shelling by Ukrainian militants.
