(Brussels) NATO announced on Tuesday that it had concluded an order worth US$1.2 billion to acquire tens of thousands of 155mm caliber artillery shells used by the Ukrainian army.
This order, announced by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, should enable the acquisition of some 220,000 shells, according to a source close to the Alliance.
“Russia’s war in Ukraine has become a battle for munitions,” declared Mr. Stoltenberg on this occasion, calling on NATO countries to “sign” contracts to increase their production.
He also reaffirmed that he did not see at this stage any imminent threat to NATO, at a time when Ukraine will begin its third year of war next month since the Russian invasion of this country on February 24, 2022.
“We do not see any direct or imminent threat against any NATO allied country and we are closely monitoring, of course, what Russia is doing,” he assured the press.
Ukraine fires several thousand shells every day, and warned last week of a shortage of ammunition.
“The shortage of ammunition is a very real and pressing problem that our armed forces are currently facing,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Roustem Umerov lamented Thursday on X (formerly Twitter), on the occasion of the launch of a “ artillery coalition” led by France and the United States.
NATO is working to strengthen its defense capabilities and stocks to be able to further assist Ukraine.
At the beginning of January, the Alliance announced that several allied countries, including Germany and Spain, had signed a contract to acquire up to 1,000 Patriot missiles, used in anti-aircraft defense, for an estimated value of around 5.5 billion dollars (5 billion euros).
NSPA, the NATO agency responsible for acquisitions and support for the armed forces, had also signed a contract worth 2.4 billion euros in 2023 to acquire 155 mm Howitzer or tank shells.
Over the past six months, it has signed contracts of this type for a total of some ten billion dollars, underlined its general director Stacy Cummings.