NATO countries boost munitions for Kyiv
NATO countries are ramping up the production of artillery munitions on worries that Ukraine is burning through shells much faster than the West can make them, the Alliance said on Wednesday. And it comes as Russia claims its forces have broken through two Ukrainian defensive lines on the Eastern Front, and Kiev describing conditions there as difficult. After a two-day meeting of Alliance defence ministers in Brussels, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the new support for Ukraine and said time was of the essence. Things are happening, but we need to continue, we need to step up even more because there is a big need out there to provide Ukraine with ammunition. Even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year, many NATO countries had fallen short of meeting the Alliance's munitions stockpiling targets. The pace of deliveries to Ukraine has drained Western inventories even further. At the same time, plans to supply Kiev with two battalions of Leopard 2 tanks are taking shape.
German defence minister Boris Pistorius said Western nations had pledged 48 Leopard 2 tanks for Kiev, including one battalion of 31 older Leopard 2A4 tanks, whose delivery is being coordinated by Poland. He also said that Berlin will send 14 and Lisbon another three of the more advanced Leopard 2A6 tanks. And that ammunition stocks for German-made Gepard battle systems used in Ukraine's air defence were sufficient for now. So first of all about the Gepard ammunition. According to all the experts, this is completely sufficient because there are still plenty of rounds of ammunition, especially when you consider how much ammunition has been fired since the Gepard tanks were delivered. This is about the same amount again. Therefore there should be enough for the coming period until the summer.
Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry is saying that Ukraine has retreated in the face of Russian attacks in the Luanks region. Reuters was not able to independently verify this and other battlefield reports. The Kremlin has intensified attacks across a swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks and a major new offensive is widely expected.
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