NATO facing 'very real' weapons shortage due to its supply to Ukraine: US envoy

NATO's member countries might face “very” real” arms shortages as they continue to supply weapons to the Ukrainian troops as the conflict in Ukraine rages on. The alliance has ramped up the manufacture at its own military-industrial complex to replace the stocks quickly and keep the military assistance for Ukraine running, US Permanent Representative to NATO Julianne Smith said at a conference on Tuesday. 

“That effort is focused on declining stockpiles across the NATO alliance for a country like Estonia that has given an enormous amount of security assistance to Ukraine. They're facing some very real shortfalls, and they're not alone. We see that across the Alliance,” Smith said at in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Weapons used in Ukraine 'staggering': NATO

NATO officials had earlier lamented that the amount of artillery being used in the Ukraine-Russia offensive has been staggering,  say. NATO's troops might have fired around 300 artillery a day in Afghanistan and there was no worry about the air defence. But in Ukraine, soldiers have been firing thousands of rounds per day, and there is a critical need for air defence against Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones attack.

A Ukrainian soldier was reported as describing the combat in Bakhmut, in the Donestsk region as a "conveyer belt." An estimated 70% of personnel from the hard battle-trained units of Ukraine have been killed or wounded.  Ukraine has been firing 6,000 to 7,000 artillery rounds each day, a senior NATO official was reported as saying. Russians, on the other hand, are firing 40,000 to 50,000 rounds per day. NATO and the ally nations are trying to replenish their own Soviet-era equipment and ammunition as they supply S-300 air defence missiles, T-72 tanks and Soviet-caliber artillery shells to troops in Ukraine in humongous figures.

It was also earlier speculated that the US may be running critically low on its Javelin missiles as Pentagon continues to supply thousands to Ukraine. With about one-third of its Javelin inventory now sent to Ukraine, Washington is on the edge of running out of the "iconic weapon," thus requiring the US to immediately reduce transfers to ensure sufficient stockpiles for its own purpose, a CSIS report found. 

"The United States has supplied Ukraine with thousands of Javelins, the anti-tank missiles that have become the iconic weapon of the war, but the U.S. inventory is dwindling,"  report published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) further stated.