BRUSSELS, 14 Feb: Ukraine on Tuesday renewed its appeal to Western countries for fighter jets to help frus-trate Moscow\u2019s invasion, but the United States and its NATO allies and partners are more concerned about Kyiv\u2019s needs for large amounts of ammunition as the war with Russia is set to enter its second year.
\nAhead of the meeting of the Ukraine contact group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Ukraine made its requirements clear. Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, when asked what military aid his country is seeking now, showed reporters an image of a fighter jet.
\nUkraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushed hard for combat planes last week when he visited London, Paris and Brussels on just his second foreign trip since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 2022. His plea came days after Western allies pledged to provide Kyiv with tanks.
\nThe United States has said no to fighter jets for Ukraine. The United Kingdom is assessing the possibility. On Tuesday, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said providing jets \u201chas to be part of the consideration.\u201d
\nWhat NATO allies have on their mind, though, is how to keep up a steady supply of ammunition to Ukraine without depleting their own stockpiles.
\nAccording to some estimates, Ukraine is firing up to 6,000-7,000 artillery shells each day, around a third of the daily amount that Russia is using.
\nNATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Monday that Ukraine is using up ammunition much faster than its allies can supply it.
\nMoscow\u2019s forces have been pressing in the east of Ukraine while bolstering their defensive lines in the south. The war has been largely static during the winter months, though both sides are expected to launch offensives when the weather improves.
\nPutin was hoping Western support for Kyiv would fizzle out, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the meeting.
\nBut he said the contact group would \u201chelp Ukraine hold an advance during the spring counteroffensive\u201d and would keep planning for Kyiv\u2019s long-term needs.
\n\u201cToday\u2019s meeting comes at a critical time,\u201d Austin said. \u201cThe Kremlin is still betting that it can wait us out.\u201d
\nThe Russians appear short on resources for any major offensive at the moment, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Tuesday. \u201cOverall, the current operational picture suggests that Russian forces are being given orders to advance in most sectors, but that they have not massed sufficient offensive combat power on any one axis to achieve a decisive effect,\u201d it tweeted.
\nGerman Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that finding ammunition and air defenses is \u201cmuch more important at the moment than the discussion about fighter jets.\u201d
\nPistorius told reporters that getting pilots up to speed on new aircraft and \u201ctraining just to fly them takes several months, never mind teaching the abilities needed to deploy the weapons systems.\u201d
\nHe said Ukraine\u2019s partners \u201cshould focus on what is now at center stage, particularly in view of a Russian offensive that is apparently taking place.\u201d
\nHe said Germany has signed a deal to produce ammunition for self-propelled, anti-aircraft guns it provided to Ukraine, after Kyiv ran into problems finding munitions elsewhere. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRUSSELS, 14 Feb: Ukraine on Tuesday renewed its appeal to Western countries for fighter jets to help frus-trate Moscow\u2019s invasion, but the United States and its NATO allies and partners are more concerned about Kyiv\u2019s needs for large amounts of ammunition as the war with Russia is set to enter its second year. Ahead of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-210990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}