NATO countries have decided to increase the production of artillery ammunition, because, repelling Russian aggression, Ukraine uses shells much faster than Western countries produce them. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said after a two-day meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers in Brussels.
The Reuters agency cites data that Ukrainian troops consume about 10,000 artillery shells per day.
Stoltenberg noted that the United States, France, Germany and Norway have already signed contracts that will allow NATO members to replenish their own ammunition stocks, as well as continue to supply artillery shells. to Ukraine.
At the same time, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius presented to journalists his intention to transfer two divisions of Leopard 2 tanks to Kiev. He said that these deliveries will consist of 31 Leopard 2 A4 tanks, the transfer of which to Ukraine is coordinated by Poland, as well as modern Leopard 2 A6 models, 14 of which will be supplied by Germany and 3 by Portugal.
NATO defense ministers also discussed whether current defense spending of 2% of gross domestic product is sufficient in the face of an all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine.
“I think we should go from 2% as a cap to -2% of GDP as a minimum,” Stoltenberg told reporters. A decision on this issue is expected at the NATO summit in Lithuania in July this year.
At the Wales Summit in 2014, NATO leaders agreed to achieve within 10 years that each NATO country spends at least 2% of its GDP on defence. It was NATO’s response to the severe deterioration of security in Europe following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
However, some countries, notably Germany, still do not spend 2% of their GDP on defence.
Berlin’s defense spending in 2022 was less than 1.5% of GDP, while US spending was 3.5% of GDP, according to NATO estimates released last June.
