Majority Of NATO Countries No Longer Able To Arm Ukraine - Reports

Majority of NATO Countries No Longer Able to Arm Ukraine - Reports

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2022) Twenty of NATO's 30 members have exhausted their potential in terms of weapon supplies to Ukraine, The New York Times reports citing sources in the alliance.

When Russia started its special military operation in Ukraine in February, stockpiles for many NATO countries were only about half of what they were supposed to be, one NATO official told the newspaper on Saturday.

At the same time, there has been little progress in creating weapons that could be used interchangeably by NATO countries, and only 18% of defense expenditures by EU nations are cooperative, according to The New York Times.

NATO countries have sent some $40 billion worth of weaponry to Ukraine, which is about the size of France's annual defense budget, but many states have exhausted their potential.

According to one NATO official, 20 of 30 NATO members are "pretty tapped out," although some larger allies, such as France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, can provide more support to Kiev, The New York Times said on Saturday.

Western countries have been providing Kiev with humanitarian, military and financial aid amid Russia's operation. Moscow has denounced the flow of weapons to Ukraine from its Western allies, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov having stressed that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia.