NATO chief warns West is running out of ammunition amid Russia’s ‘war of attrition’ in Ukraine

The West risks running out of ammunition, the NATO chief said yesterday, also warning that Vladimir Putin is “preparing for more war” in Ukraine.

Jens Stoltenberg told the 30 countries in the military alliance that they need to increase deliveries to ensure Ukraine can fight Russian aggression.

Ahead of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, the former Norwegian prime minister said: “This has become a war of attrition and therefore also a battle of logistics.” This is a great effort on the part of the allies to be able to obtain the ammunition, the fuel, the spare parts that are needed”.

He added: ‘We see no signs that President Putin is preparing for peace. What we see is the opposite, he is preparing for more war, for new offensives and new attacks.’

Ukrainian officials say that Moscow is planning a much broader offensive in the eastern regions of the Donbas, but also new attacks on Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporizhzhia in the southeast of the country. It comes after a British citizen died in Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials say that Moscow is planning a much broader offensive in the eastern regions of the Donbas, but also new attacks on Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporizhzhia in the southeast of the country. In the photo: Ukrainian soldier near the destroyed Retroville shopping center

The identity of the individual, the eighth UK citizen to be killed in the conflict, is not yet known, but his family have been informed, the Foreign Office said.

Ukraine’s armed forces are firing some 6,000 artillery shells a day, far faster than its Western allies can resupply.

Russia is using up to 20,000 cartridges a day, the equivalent of what European factories can produce in a month. But there is still no decision on the supply of Western combat aircraft to the Ukrainian army.

kyiv has demanded urgent air support, which has been met with a mixed response from allies.

Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister, held up a picture of a fighter jet yesterday when asked what he wanted from the meeting to provide the country with more weapons.

The United States and the United Kingdom have ruled out delivering the planes for now, but Britain has announced a training program for Ukrainian fighter pilots.

Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said the Netherlands was taking Ukraine’s request for F-16s “very seriously.” Her Polish counterpart, Mariusz Blaszczak, vowed to “apply pressure” on her Western allies.

“We are aware that our potential in this area is limited because we only have 48 F-16s, but the allies have much more potential, so I think this conversation will end with positive decisions,” he said.

Ukraine’s armed forces are firing some 6,000 artillery shells a day, far faster than its Western allies can resupply. In the photo: Ukrainian soldiers patrolling in Bakhmut

Russia is using up to 20,000 cartridges a day, the equivalent of what European factories can produce in a month. In the picture: Ammunition for a howitzer during training at a German army base.

Stoltenberg insisted that the aircraft issue “is not the most pressing issue right now, but it is an ongoing discussion.”

‘The urgent need now is to deliver what has already been promised. The armored infantry fighting vehicles and other main battle tanks that have been engaged,” he said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said as many as 15 NATO countries have promised to send battle tanks to Ukraine and 22 are ready to provide infantry fighting vehicles. “The Kremlin is still betting that it can wait for us,” he said.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky received no concrete promises about planes during his tour of London, Paris and Brussels last week.