kyiv’s allies will meet in Germany on Thursday to further coordinate their military aid to Ukraine, which has been leading a counteroffensive in the south of the country since last week to dislodge Russian forces.
This fifth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which is being held at the invitation of US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin at the US base in Ramstein, in the west of the country, aims to show Ukraine’s “unity and solidarity”. . allies, said US Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.
Representatives from more than 40 countries and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will meet there to discuss in particular the challenges posed by the conflict in terms of weapons production.
Dependent on western military aid
The objective is “to try to determine the needs, the demands and then compare this with the supply, whether it is the stocks of the countries or what the defense industry can produce,” he said, adding to the plan that brought him from Washington.
Artillery is decisive in the conflict. Particularly hungry for shells of all kinds, the Ukrainian and Russian armies are waging a war of attrition for ammunition, stocks of which are crucial.
Ukraine has exhausted all its Russian-made weaponry and its defense is now entirely dependent on Western military aid. For its part, Russia has turned to North Korea to buy large quantities of rockets and artillery shells, according to Washington.
no long range
The United States, the largest provider of military aid to Ukraine, has already committed to providing $13.5 billion in various weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, artillery pieces and shells compatible with NATO artillery systems.
Washington also equipped the Ukrainian forces with Himars precision artillery systems and their GPS-guided rockets called GMLERS, with a range of more than 80 km, which are widely used in the south and east of the country.
Kyiv would like longer-range weapons of the ATACMS type, which can strike at 300 km, but the United States refuses, fearing that these missiles will be aimed at targets on Russian territory, which could lead to a widening of the conflict.
155mm ammunition
Only the United States provides three quarters of the projectiles according to NATO standards, stressed the spokesman for the US General Staff, Colonel Dave Butler.
All arms donations to Ukraine are calculated so as not to weaken the military capabilities of donor countries, but ammunition stocks must be able to be regularly replenished, hence the need to revitalize defense industry production, the spokesman explained.
Source: BFM TV
