West struggling to supply sufficient weapons to Ukraine: US daily
The US and other Western sponsors of Ukraine's government have not delivered sufficient tanks, artillery ammunition and other supplies that the country's armed forces require for an expected spring offensive against Russia, a report has unveiled citing leaked Pentagon files.
US military planners estimated that Kiev would need 253 tanks for the coming assault, but only 200 had been mustered by late February, The New York Times reported Friday, noting that of those, 140 were Soviet designs and only 60 Western-manufactured tanks would be delivered by the end of April.
Further underlining the extent to which the West is scrambling to fulfill its pledge to supply Kiev with enough tanks, air defense systems, fighter jets and other weapons, the report also emphasized that three Ukrainian brigades preparing for the anticipated attack were short “at least a dozen tanks each” as of February 28.
The US has reportedly accelerated the delivery of the 31 promised M1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine, though they will not be ready for shipment before later in the year. While nearly a dozen British Challenger 2 tanks have already arrived, most of the German-made Leopard tanks are still being refurbished.
According to the report, Kiev’s supply of 155-millimeter artillery shells was also down to 9,800 as of March 1, but the US delivered another 30,000 over the next 12 days.
At this point, the daily noted, the Ukrainian appetite for artillery ammunition is “essentially limitless” while the arms industries in the European Union and the US will “take years to catch up with the demand.”
The report further states that Washington has only “offered” to supply Ukraine with Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB), which have a range of around 140km, noting that “they must first be built, and production of even a small batch could take months.”
This is while there have been reports of the GLSDB already being used – and intercepted by Russian air defenses.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, has never officially confirmed the authenticity of classified briefing slides that surfaced on social media earlier this month. At an April 10 White House briefing, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the documents were “not intended for public consumption” and had “no business” being “on the front pages of newspapers or on television.”
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