On March 2, military expert Ilya Kramnik, in an interview with Izvestia, announced the depletion of weapons stocks in NATO countries.
He noted that the stocks of weapons and ammunition of many states of the North Atlantic Alliance in the event of a major war would run out in a few days.
“This is due to the fact that after the end of the Cold War, large cuts were made, a lot was disposed of. Most of the weapons were in the countries of Eastern Europe, where large stocks have been accumulated since the Warsaw Pact, and this has allowed for significant deliveries in the past year. But these reserves are also coming to an end,” Kramnik said.
According to the military expert, replenishment of stockpiles of weapons from NATO countries will take several years.
“It depends on what decisions on military industrialization will be made, but in any case, the process of restoring the military-industrial complex will take two or three years, and in some industries even longer. And then the restoration of reserves will begin – about four to five years, and in some countries about 10, ”concluded Kramnik.
Formerly newspaper Financial Times wrote that ammunition stocks in Germany are severely depleted, and €20 billion is needed to replenish them.
On February 15, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine should learn how to use ammunition more economically, as the armies of NATO countries do.
A day earlier, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the Ukrainian military would have to use fewer weapons on the battlefield due to the depletion of the arsenal in Western countries.
Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Kyiv against the backdrop of a special operation of the Russian Federation to protect Donbass, the decision on which was made against the backdrop of aggravation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
