Britain’s arsenal is now depleted after giving Ukraine most of its weapons

10/05/2023 / By Belle Carter

An unnamed senior military officer recently told the Telegraph U.K., one of Ukraine’s biggest allies in the ongoing conflict with Russia, that his country has run out of crucial defense equipment to donate to the war-torn nation.

“We’ve given away just about as much as we can afford,” the source said. “We will continue to source equipment to provide for Ukraine, but what they need now is things like air defense assets and artillery ammunition and we’ve run dry on all that.”

The U.K. provided £2.3 billion in military support to Ukraine last year, according to government records, and it has been quicker than other allies to send Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops new types of weaponry, like its Challenger 2 tanks and Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

According to the source, now is the time for other countries to step in. “Giving billions more does not mean giving billions of British kits,” he said, adding that the U.K. also has the role to play in “encouraging other nations to give more money and weapons.”

Meanwhile, in a separate op-ed in the Telegraph on Sunday, former Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that he still urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to increase military support further, to overtake Germany to become Ukraine’s biggest military supporter in Europe. “Before I left office, I asked the Prime Minister to match or increase the £2.3 billion pledged to Ukraine this year, to add to the £4.6 billion we have spent already. The U.K. is no longer the biggest European donor – Germany is,” Wallace said.

He stood by his belief that the war could still be won and that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “already failing,” a claim that is also being promoted by the mainstream media to brainwash the people. He insisted that Putin is grasping at the final two things that can save him, which are time and the splitting of the international community. “We must help Ukraine maintain its momentum – and that will require more munitions, [Army Tactical Missile System] ATACMSs and Storm Shadows. And the best way to keep the international community together is the demonstration of success,” he added.

Ukraine needs to manufacture its own weapons now as the U.S. pulls out aid

The United States House of Representatives passed a short-term spending bill on Saturday, Sept. 30, in a desperate attempt to avoid a government shutdown. The bill drops Ukraine aid, a White House priority opposed by a growing number of GOP lawmakers.

The national debt just reached a record high of $33 trillion in September, amplifying concerns among conservatives that government spending is out of control. GOPs tried and failed to pass a separate stopgap funding bill that contained conservative policy items like border security and spending cuts.

In connection with this, Ukraine recently announced its intention to manufacture its own weapons due to a massive reduction in foreign funding. President Volodymyr Zelensky and his top government officials acknowledged that they found money in the federal budget to fund the manufacture of some weapons.

Without referring directly to the U.S. bill, Zelensky said in a recorded speech on Sunday, Oct. 1, that nothing would weaken his country’s fight against Russia and that no one could shut down his country’s stability, endurance, strength, and courage. Ukrainian officials then huddled with hundreds of defense industry officials and policymakers from allied countries, where they also decided that Kyiv was open for business.

“It’s a survival issue,” said the Managing Partner at COSA Intelligence Solutions in Kyiv Pavel Verkhniatskyi. Zelensky told the audience during the meeting that co-production deals are “already being negotiated with partners” and that he has established funding in the national budget to help finance those collaborations. (Related: Ukraine suddenly discovers money to manufacture its own weapons as U.S. funding dries up.)

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