Current ammunition usage rates exceed ammunition production rates - Stoltenberg

This was stated in an interview with the NATO Secretary General for The Guardian.

According to Jens Stoltenberg, the combat was so intense that Ukraine’s use of artillery shells – 4,000 to 7,000 a day to Russia’s 20,000 – was outrunning western manufacturing. "The current rate of ammunition expenditure is higher than the current production rate," Stoltenberg said.

At the same time, journalists claimed that the new contracts indicate a change in the situation.

The NATO Secretary General also said that the Russian president is waging a war of attrition." Thus, the official expressed a wish that at the next NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, NATO members would agree to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense.

"President Putin doesn’t plan for peace, he’s planning for more war," Stoltenberg continued, adding that Russia was increasing its military-industrial production and "reaching out to authoritarian regimes like Iran or North Korea and others to try to get more weapons."

• Earlier, military expert Serhiy Zgurets said that the approved EU plan should ensure the supply of one million artillery shells to Ukraine over the next 12 months. However, Ukraine's need for artillery shells per month in the context of hostilities is more than 500,000 per month.