Denmark has committed to Ukraine its stockpile of “all its artillery,” the country’s leader said, as Kiev renewed its request for vital military aid in the face of Russian gains in the country’s east. .
“Now they are asking us for ammunition and artillery,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. “On the Danish side, we decided to donate the entire cannon.”
Artillery has dominated the nearly two-year war between Russia and Ukraine, but Kiev has depleted its ammunition reserves and fires far fewer bullets a day than Russia. Moscow’s artillery fired about one-fifth of the shells it burned.
Artillery and related ammunition are high on Western backers’ wish list for aid to Ukraine. Analysts and Ukrainian officials have suggested the shortage is constraining operational planning on the Kyiv front.
But the shipment of shells has depleted NATO’s stockpiles, and alliance members are working to increase ammunition production.
Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
The alliance announced in January that it had signed a contract worth $1.2 billion to produce artillery shells to replenish NATO countries’ stockpiles while keeping aid flowing to Ukraine. The alliance plans to buy about 220,000 rounds of 155mm shells, a highly sought-after ammunition.
Earlier this month, the U.S. military said it wanted to significantly increase production of 155mm artillery shells, allowing the U.S. military to “resupply ourselves and resupply our allies.”
“We still have ammunition stocks in Europe,” Frederiksen said. “This is not just a production issue, because we have weapons, ammunition and air defense.” [systems] There is no need to use them at the moment, they should deliver them to Ukraine. ”
The Kyiv presidential palace announced on Saturday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with Prime Minister Frederiksen and thanked the Danish leader for more than a dozen defense aid pledges by Copenhagen to the battleground nation. .
Kyiv said the two leaders “paid special attention to further defense assistance to our country, bilateral cooperation and cooperation with other countries to provide Ukraine with the necessary weapons.”
“Ukraine needs ammunition and the necessary equipment to defend its freedom,” Czech President Petr Pavel added during talks in Munich. “We must encourage investment in the European defense industry and expand its capabilities,” he said.
Zelenskiy, also in Munich, said Ukraine’s operations were limited only by the availability of arms and ammunition.
“By leaving Ukraine with an artificial shortage of weapons, especially artillery and long-range capabilities, [Russian President Vladimir] “President Putin needs to adapt to the intensity of the current war,” Zelenskyy said in his speech.
Ukraine announced on Saturday that its troops were withdrawing from the devastated frontline city of Avdiivka after more than four months of intense fighting. Russia launched an attack on Avdiivka in October, which quickly became one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
The city has spent a decade on the front lines of the fighting in Ukraine, and Kiev was building up its defenses ahead of the outbreak of all-out war in February 2022. However, Russia gradually gained territory around the Donetsk settlements, albeit at high cost. For the supply of soldiers and military equipment.
Ukrainian military commander Colonel Oleksandr Shirushkyi said on Saturday that Kiev forces had withdrawn from Avdiivka to “avoid a siege” and save the lives of the fighters.
“Our soldiers performed honorable military service and did everything possible to destroy the best units of the Russian army. [and] “We inflicted significant losses on the enemy in manpower and equipment,” Shirschiky said in a statement.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday that an “isolated formation” of Ukrainian soldiers had managed to escape from Avdiivka. The Kremlin said Moscow’s forces were trying to “clear out” coke factories in the city and northeast of the settlement.
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