U.S. and NATO scramble to arm Ukraine and refill their own arsenals

Either this narrative about weapon stockpiles, being depleted, is part of the information war or Russia is demilitarizing NATO!?!

U.S. and NATO scramble to arm Ukraine and refill their own arsenals

In Ukraine, the kind of European war thought inconceivable is chewing up the modest stockpiles of artillery, ammunition and air defenses of what some in NATO call Europe’s “bonsai armies,” after the tiny Japanese trees. Even the mighty United States has only limited stocks of the weapons the Ukrainians want and need, and Washington is unwilling to divert key weapons from delicate regions like Taiwan and Korea, where China and North Korea are constantly testing the limits.

So the West is scrambling to find increasingly scarce Soviet-era equipment and ammunition that Ukraine can use now, including S-300 air defense missiles, T-72 tanks and especially Soviet-caliber artillery shells

There are even discussions about NATO investing in old factories in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria to restart the manufacturing of Soviet-caliber 152-mm and 122-mm shells for Ukraine’s still largely Soviet-era artillery armory.

The European Union has approved €3.1 billion ($3.2 billion) to repay member states for what they provide to Ukraine, but that fund, the [ironically-named] European Peace Facility, is nearly 90 percent depleted.

Smaller countries have exhausted their potential, another NATO official said, with 20 of its 30 members “pretty tapped out.” But the remaining 10 can still provide more, he suggested, especially larger allies. That would include France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has advised the alliance — including, pointedly, Germany — that NATO guidelines requiring members to keep stockpiles should not be a pretext to limit arms exports to Ukraine. But it is also true that Germany and France, like the United States, want to calibrate the weapons Ukraine gets, to prevent escalation and direct attacks on Russia.

Washington is also looking at older, cheaper alternatives like giving Ukraine anti-tank TOW missiles, which are in plentiful supply, instead of Javelins, and Hawk surface-to-air missiles instead of newer versions. But officials are increasingly pushing Ukraine to be more efficient and not, for example, fire a missile that costs $150,000 at a drone that costs $20,000.

EU foreign ministers pledge to train 15,000 Ukrainian troops for war with Russia

Yesterday, European Union (EU) foreign ministers met at a summit in Luxembourg and pledged a massive escalation of their participation in the NATO war on Russia in Ukraine. This decision confirms that EU countries are at war with Russia and, by the admission of top EU officials, raises the danger of direct military conflict between EU states and Russia.

EU foreign ministers pledge to train 15,000 Ukrainian troops for war with Russia

Adrien Bocquet: former French soldier, who covered the events in Donbass, was attacked in Istanbul

A former French soldier who covered the events in Donbass was attacked in Istanbul

Earlier, Adrien Boke [Adrien Bocquet] said that the French authorities were involved in the chemical attack on Donetsk and in the genocide of the population in Donbass.

Video via Country

Related:

Here’s his most recent interview on Russian TV (with English subtitles)

Former French special forces soldier Adrian Boke, who has been covering the events in Donbass in recent months, was attacked in Istanbul. (18+ images)

Some More Updates: Ukrainian army shells Donetsk centre with French guns, killing four civilians and wounding eight

Ukrainian army shells Donetsk centre with French guns, killing four civilians and wounding eight

Other shells hit the Post building, as well as the Voroshilovsky district administration building, the Oplot TV studios, and the monument to Pushkin, the Russian author, located behind the theatre, a few meters from Lenin Square. There, three civilians were killed, including a woman who was walking right next to a children’s park that is usually crowded when the weather is nice like today. The initial toll of three injured civilians was eventually raised to eight, including a TeleSur journalist.

And the toll on journalists could have been much worse. As they arrived on the scene quickly after the bombing, War Gonzo journalists witnessed the second strike live, which again targeted Lenin Square, hitting the already burning van a second time. Fortunately their car was behind another vehicle and they were able to get out safely.

But this second strike, shortly after the first, shows that Ukraine continues to carry out terrorist bombings, the aim of which is to kill or maim as many rescue workers and journalists as possible when they arrive in an already bombed area.

But after submitting the photos of the shrapnel I found on the spot to Adrien Bocquet*, who is now a NATO weapons expert for the DPR’s representation in the JCCC (Joint Monitoring and Co-ordination Centre on Ukraine’s War Crimes), he confirmed that they were American 155mm shells, some fired from Caesar guns and others from TRF1 guns.

The famous TRF1 guns that can fire (banned) 155 mm cluster munitions, which I had mentioned in June, and which the Western press had assured that France had not supplied to Ukraine! Before learning at the beginning of September that Paris had indeed sold them to Kiev!

Previously:

Updated: Four killed in Ukrainian shelling attack on downtown Donetsk

* A French Volunteer Described How He Witnessed Dramatisations in Bucha

*French Medical Volunteer in Ukraine Opens Up About Azov Regiment’s ‘War Crimes’

Updated: Four killed in Ukrainian shelling attack on downtown Donetsk

Four killed in Ukrainian shelling attack on downtown Donetsk

The shelling is carried out with NATO-style 155mm caliber shells from a French Caesar. A car is burning on Lenin Square, people were burnt alive. A hit was recorded on the administration building of the Voroshilovsky district. People are hiding in basements and parking lots, fragments from explosions scatter hundreds of meters.

Consequences of shelling by NATO in Donetsk via Itapirkanmaa2

Related:

18+ Donetsk, still Ukrainian artillery shots in the center via V-N Rangeloni (In Italian, so you’ll have to turn on subtitles and automatic translation. He explains how Ukraine shells the same spot, after about 30 minutes, to target emergency rescue services)

Ukraine officially admits illegal sale of West donated weapons + More

KYIV ($1=29.50 Ukrainian Hryvnias) — The Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine registered repeated sales of humanitarian aid coming from Western countries, as well as arms. This was announced by the director of the department, Vadim Melnik, on the air of the TV channel “Ukraine 24” on July 5, according to Life online portal.

Ukraine officially admits illegal sale of West donated weapons

Related:

Location Kyiv: Javelin ATGM is sold for $30K on the darknet

Ukraine has sold two French-donated 155mm Caesar howitzers to Russia