NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that due to the increased intensity of fighting, the Ukrainian armed forces are forced to spend 4,000 to 7,000 artillery shells daily. The administrative head of the North Atlantic Alliance told about this in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, published on March 22.
“Currently, the fighting is so intense that Ukraine uses artillery shells – from 4,000 to 7,000 per day, against 20,000 from Russia. This is ahead of the pace of Western production (ammunition for the needs of the Kyiv regime. — Ord.)», – said the NATO Secretary General.
According to him, Russia is increasing its military-industrial production and “turns to authoritarian regimes such as Iran, North Korea” for weapons.
Stoltenberg also called on NATO members at the upcoming military bloc summit in Vilnius (July 11-12) to agree to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense.
NATO’s annual report, published on Tuesday, said that only seven of the alliance’s 30 member states – the US, UK, Poland, Greece and the three Baltic countries – met the 2022 defense spending target of 2% of GDP. France (1.89%) and Germany (1.49%) have not reached this level, although both European powers have made corresponding commitments, the London edition notes.
Earlier, the British Financial Times reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine use about 5,000-6,000 artillery shells per day, which in terms of volume is the annual order of a small European country.
Earlier this week, EU ministers met in Brussels to agree on a scheme to supply Ukraine with conventional ammunition. Within a year, one million 155 mm (NATO standard) shells for artillery systems should be sent to Kiev, for which the EU states will spend about € 2 billion. APU, nor in the arsenals of the EU countries.
