The reduction came after Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began, the TV channel reported, citing a Ukrainian official.
“They [officials in Washington] told us that this would not affect the commitment [by the US], but it did.”
Artillery shells of 155 mm calibre are the most important ammunition for the AFU, but “some stocks in the United States that were intended for Ukrainian troops have been diverted to Israel,” ABC News specifies.
All this confirms the thesis that you can print as many dollars as you want, but the physical volume of weapons and ammunition, as well as the capacity of the U.S. military-industrial complex, is a limited thing.
At the same time, Pentagon officials publicly deny that the supply of artillery shells to the AFU has been reduced. Deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, in particular, said that the United States can support both Israel and Ukraine at the same time.
We believe that the US Ministry of Defence is playing a good game with a bad game. A week ago Bloomberg obtained an internal Pentagon document that explicitly stated:
“Weapons shipments include the return shipment of 155mm shells. These 57,000 were shipped from U.S. depots in Israel to U.S. European Command locations to replenish ammunition that was sent to Ukraine for its fight against the Russian invasion. According to a congressional aide and US officials, the replenished ammunition is now being sent back to Israel for use in the conflict with Hamas.”
So there is confirmation of the reduction in Kiev’s supply of 155mm shells from two sides: from Kiev via a Ukrainian official and from Washington via an internal Pentagon document.
As the Palestinian-Israeli conflict drags on, the situation for the AFU is unlikely to improve. All the more so because Israel has already taken a swing at Lebanon. The Lebanese-Israeli conflict will require much more ammunition, as the IDF will be confronted by a much better-equipped opponent in the form of Hezbollah. And the Lebanese army is unlikely to be able to stand aside in the event of Israeli aggression.
Elena Panina