NATO admits Ukraine's weapons request exceeds alliance's capabilities

At the annual meeting of NATO's chiefs of staff in Norway, the head of the alliance's military committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, said that Ukraine's request for weapons and ammunition exceeded NATO's capabilities.

“The volume of military equipment and ammunition requested by Ukraine is enormous. The scale and volume of equipment used exceeds our production capacity,” said Admiral Rob Bauer.

Admiral Bauer stressed that when providing military assistance to Kiev, NATO countries need to think about the risks related to their own defense, and the security of the alliance.

In this regard, Mr. Bauer called on the bloc's members to quickly and effectively address issues related to enhancing defense production capacity.

The head of NATO's military committee also complained that production capacity was lagging, supplies were slowing and weapons prices were rising. Mr. Bauer said that in such a context, even if member states increased defense spending, the security of the bloc as a whole would not improve.

Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Moscow has sent diplomatic notes to NATO countries warning against providing military aid to Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly stressed that any shipment of weapons to Kiev would become a legitimate target for the Russian military.

On the Telegram page on July 11, Deputy of the Russian National Security Council, Mr. Dmitry Medvedev, emphasized that the West's increased supply of weapons to Ukraine "cannot lead to anything other than a dead end and the approaching Third World War."