UK's Armed Forces chief: We need 'huge increase' in ammunition
Photo: British Chief of Defense Staff Tony Radakin (Getty Images)
The United Kingdom needs a "huge increase" in ammunition stocks after two years of military aid to Ukraine, which was needed to fight Russia, says Chief of the Defense Staff Admiral Tony Radakin.
Amid growing debate in the UK over how much the country's armed forces have been downsized, Tony Radakin said on Tuesday that Britain’s aim isn’t to recreate a military on a par with its level during the Cold War.
According to him, military chiefs are working to make the British Army "more deployable and more lethal."
"We need deeper stockpiles of ammunition. These are dangerous and uncertain times," Radakin explained.
What else Chief of the British Defense Staff said
According to him, the UK is safe and is not on the verge of war with Russia, and is unlikely to be invaded.
He also pointed to NATO's military superiority over Russia, saying that the alliance's air force is three times that of Russia and that it has four times as many ships and three times as many submarines.
Paris conference on military aid to Ukraine
On February 26, a working meeting of about 20 European leaders took place in the Elysee Palace in Paris. The participants of the conference discussed ways of confronting Russia and possible ways of helping Ukraine in confronting the aggressor, in the context of the aggravation of the situation at the front in recent weeks.
According to the results of the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron criticized the EU's promise to transfer a million shells to Ukraine, which they could not fulfill in time - by March 1, 2024, EU countries will have only 600,000 ammunition.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, expressed his regret that the EU supplied Kyiv with only 30% of the promised shells by March 2024.
However, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, noted that Ukraine will receive more than 1 million artillery shells from EU countries by the end of this year.
