Jens Stoltenberg of NATO says Ukraine was using ammunition more quickly than NATO members could produce it.
Moscow and Kiev both report significant fighting around Bakhmut in the meantime.
As the transatlantic military alliance’s ammunition supply has been rapidly depleted in the conflict in Ukraine, Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of NATO, announced to reporters on Monday that the organisation would be raising its targets for ammunition stockpiles.
“The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of ammunition,” Stoltenberg said. “The current rate of Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current production rates. This puts our defense industries under strain. (…) So we need to ramp up new production and invest in our production capacities.”
Stoltenberg also said NATO members would “step up and sustain” support for Ukraine, saying: “NATO stands with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
Ammunition resupply has been a concern for Ukrainian and Russian forces alike for months.
DW’s correspondent in Kyiv, Nick Connolly, said he had spoken with Ukrainian commanders who said they were having to make “very tough choices” about ammunition usage.
“I’ve met commanders of howitzers, of artillery pieces, who’ve told me that they don’t know how long they can keep on doing their job, if they will be forced to withdraw and move away from positions and wait for more artillery,” Connolly said. “This is a very real problem.”
“Right now, you’re seeing Ukraine and its allies scrambling around the world, looking as far afield as Pakistan and South Korea for artillery munitions,” Connolly said. “We’ve had reports of Pakistani-made Soviet-caliber munitions heading this way, [and] of US troops being asked to send munitions that they had stockpiled in South Korea to Europe for Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, at NATO’s Brussels headquarters, Stoltenberg also touched on several other topics related to the war.
Among other things, he said he expected the possible supply of NATO aircraft to Ukraine to be a topic of discussion when the alliance’s defense ministers assemble on Tuesday. Kyiv has been calling for western-built combat aircraft on and off since the conflict began, and with renewed intensity since the most recent agreement on sending battle tanks was approved just a few weeks ago.
The issue is also liable to be raised at this week’s Munich Security Conference. The MSC’s chairman Christoph Heusgen, formerly Chancellor Angela Merkel’s foreign and security policy advisor, told DW ahead of the event that in his opinion it might be wise for politicians to ask for military advice on the matter.
“Instead of putting red lines, I think we have to see what is needed,” Heusgen said. “When you talk to military experts, they say that when you fight a war like this, you need a combination of several weapons. (…) I think this should be a military decision.”
Asked about a possible Russian offensive in Ukraine, NATO’s Stoltenberg said it had already begun.
“We see no sign whatsoever that [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin is preparing for peace,” he said. “We see how they are sending more troops, more weapons, more capabilities.”
Has Putin already started his spring offensive?
— Teri Schultz (@terischultz) February 13, 2023
"We see no sign he's preparing for peace," says #NATO Sec Gen Stoltenberg. pic.twitter.com/noBnvvH94G