Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, while in Brussels earlier this week, that the West hopes better training will help Ukrainian forces to use less ammunition and artillery in defending against Russia’s attacks. Russia is already using up to four times as many artillery shells as Ukraine, but somehow we think better training is the answer for Ukraine.1 This is silly. Better training is always good, but why can’t we get ammunition and artillery to Ukraine?
It has been obvious since May or June of last year, if not before, that Ukraine needed ammunition and lots of it. If we didn’t have enough, why weren’t we entering into contracts with suppliers last summer, so they could open plants, buy machinery, and hire workers to produce more ammunition? If President Biden didn’t realize it, why didn’t the Pentagon tell him?
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1 Henry Foy, “Nato states in ammunition race with Moscow,” Financial Times, February 14, 2023.
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