NATO announced problems with the supply of ammunition to Ukraine

Western military powers are running out of ammunition to help Ukraine so that it can defend itself in the face of a full-scale Russian invasion. This was warned by the leadership of NATO, as well as the authorities of Great Britain, writes the BBC on Tuesday.

The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, said at the Warsaw Security Forum that governments and manufacturers of defense products now “have to ramp up production at a much faster pace.” As he put it: “You can already see the bottom of the barrel.” In this regard, Bauer mentioned “decades of insufficient investment” in the military-industrial complex and half-empty ammunition warehouses in NATO countries.

“They need large volumes. The system of “just in time and in the right amount”, which we have been building together for 30 years in our liberal economies, is suitable for many things, but not for the Armed Forces when there is a war,” Rob Bauer emphasized.

British Defense Minister James Hippie said at the forum that Western military stocks “look a little depleted.” He urged NATO allies to spend 2% of their GDP on defense, as they had previously promised to do. “If now, when there is a war in Europe, 2% is not spent on defense, when will it still be necessary?” – said the British minister.

US President Joe Biden, under whose leadership Washington led Western efforts to help Kiev, on Tuesday spoke by phone with the leaders of allied countries, the EU and NATO about continuing coordinated support for Ukraine. The White House reported on the conversation, “Voice of America” ​​notes. The conversation took place after the US Congress approved the country’s temporary budget last week, which does not provide for the allocation of new funds to Ukraine – a part of the conservative wing of the Republican Party insisted on this.

As CNN reports, the leaders of Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Romania and Great Britain, the head of the French Foreign Ministry, as well as the presidents of the European Council, the European Commission and the Secretary General of NATO participated in the conversation with Biden. The TV channel claims that all of them expressed their readiness to continue supporting Ukraine – both military and humanitarian. Biden assured his allies that the United States will firmly adhere to the chosen course.