West ‘defenceless’ as ammo runs dry
KYIV: Europe is facing a “dramatic” shortage of ammunition thanks to its supplies to Ukraine, Estonia’s senior defence official has warned.
Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the continent’s arsenals of munitions were running low after more than 20 years of focusing on hi-tech warfare rather than sustained land-based combat.
Since February, NATO’S European members have further depleted their reserves by pledging or donating well over €10bn ($15bn) of military aide to Ukraine, including millions of bullets, hundreds of thousands of artillery shells and tens of thousands of shoulder-mounted rockets.
Many countries are unable to meet their NATO ob
ligation to retain enough ammunition to fight a land war for 30 days, raising concerns that they may not be able to keep up the flow of arms to Kyiv at the same time as replenishing their own forces.
Kusti Salm, permanent secretary of the Estonian defence ministry, said Europe was now paying the price for the “irresponsible” failure to prepare for a Ukraine-style land-based conflict.
“The past two decades … have been focused on the outof-area operations where the ammunition requirements are not as large, which has translated into very low ammunition stocks,” he said after a meeting with his British counterparts in London.
“It’s clearly unfortunate, in
Estonia’s view, given the much more conventional threats. We would also call it irresponsible. But now it’s not really time to play the blame game. Now it’s time to find solutions.”
Just about every significant variety of ammunition is scarce. The 155mm shells used by modern Western artillery guns in Ukraine such as the German Panzerhaubitze 2000 and most American howitzers are in desperately short supply. Gaps are even beginning to appear in the vast stockpiles of the US military. Supplies of missiles for warships such as the Tomahawk and Harpoon, mediumrange rocket launchers, and shoulder-mounted systems are dwindling.
Some analysts estimate that the German armed forces, known as the Bundeswehr, would run out of munitions after as little as two days of combat.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden hosted French leader Emmanuel Macron as the pair declared they would not let up on support for Ukraine’s war against Russia and pledged to hold Moscow responsible for war crimes.
The two reaffirmed “support for Ukraine’s defence of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, including the provision of political, security, humanitarian, and economic assistance to Ukraine for as long as it takes”.
They also reiterated their “steadfast resolve to hold
Russia to account for widely documented atrocities and war crimes”.
At a press conference, Mr Biden called Vladimir Putin’s methods of attack “sick”.
“I’m prepared to speak with Mr Putin if in fact there is an interest in him deciding he’s looking for a way to end the war. He hasn’t done that yet,” Mr Biden said.
“If that’s the case, in consultation with my French and NATO friends, I’ll be happy to sit down with Putin to see what he has in mind.
“There’s one way for this war to end – the rational way. Putin to pull out of Ukraine … but it appears he’s not.
“Bombing nurseries, hospitals, children’s homes. It’s sick what he’s doing.”