Ramstein: Allies discussed urgent increase of ammunition production for Ukraine

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the Ramstein Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine, which held an online meeting on Tuesday, discussed Ukraine's urgent need for ammunition.

"We discussed plans to increase production both nationally and multinationally as part of the European Union's initiative to produce more ammunition," Lloyd Austin said.

Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov also shared the results of today's meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine.

According to him, the priority issue was the supply of weapons and equipment necessary for the liberation of the occupied territories. The main thing is ammunition, which was mentioned by General Austin, as well as air defense systems and armored vehicles.

In addition, according to Reznikov, the members of the Contact Group discussed the development of an IT coalition and the creation of a coalition that will deal with demining of Ukrainian territories after the end of hostilities.

As reported by CNN, the decline in artillery ammunition stockpiles was a wake-up call for NATO, as the alliance was not prepared for the possibility of a protracted war in Europe after decades of relative peace.

The US arsenals around the world have a certain mandatory stockpile of emergency ammunition that the military does not want to part with. The volume of these stockpiles is classified.

However, Washington, according to the military, is already approaching this limit by continuing to supply Ukraine with 155-mm ammunition. The United States began ramping up production of these shells last year, when it became clear that the war would last much longer than expected.

But it will take years to mass-produce the ammunition to an acceptable level, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN on Sunday.

Background. Today it became known that the US plans to announce a new aid package for Ukraine worth $1.3 billion.