The US and Western allies have been supplying Ukraine with Soviet-era military weapons for months now, but that too is beginning to run out, according to a senior US defense official. To bypass the shortage, the US is trying to simultaneously acquire more Soviet equipment and facilitate a switch to NATO armaments in Ukraine.
"The Soviet-type equipment stocks are dwindling. That doesn't mean we've reached rock bottom. There are still sources of ammunition. There are sources of equipment," the senior US defense official said in a briefing on June 24.
Why is Ukraine using Soviet-era weapons?
Once part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine's army and its defense industry were built around Soviet and Russian-standard equipment, small arms, tanks, howitzers and other weapons not interchangeable with those of neighbors to the west.
“Most of the equipment in the Ukrainian military at the beginning of the war was Soviet-era,” said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "In addition to the tanks, Ukraine’s aircraft and artillery originate from that period, artillery, in particular, has proved decisive in fighting the Russians since the war began," he added.
To try and facilitate the Soviet-era gear, Ukraine's allies offered up their own stockpiles of Russian-standard equipment to fill in the ever-dwindling stockpiles of Ukraine.
The United States is leading the effort to transfer ammunition, parts and additional supplies from ex-Soviet countries that would match Ukraine's needs.
"There are still countries all around the world who we're talking to who want to be able to make their own transition to NATO-type equipment and are very much willing to provide their[older, Soviet-era] equipment," the defense official said.
A challenge to resupply
The reliance on Soviet and Russian weaponry has at times made it a challenge for the United States and NATO to provide the weapons Ukrainian troops need.
US artillery pieces provided to Ukraine use 155 mm rounds, for example, which are incompatible with their own howitzers. The United States must also send the weapons themselves to properly arm Ukraine's artillery capabilities, while also providing training to artillerymen in another country.
While Soviet-era arms keep coming, Eastern European countries have been more than happy to offload their old equipment to Ukraine in exchange for newer models from the US and NATO. "It’s a 'win-win-win' situation," Cancian said.
"What we are looking at is not just how we source the Soviet-type equipment and not just how we source NATO equipment to transition it to Ukraine, we're also looking at how we're ramping up production lines of US and NATO equipment so that we can backfill other countries and ourselves so it's a multi-pronged effort," the defense official added.
What we are looking at is not just how we source the Soviet-type equipment and not just how we source NATO equipment to transition it to Ukraine, we're also looking at how we're ramping up production lines of US and NATO equipment so that we can backfill other countries and ourselves so it's a multi-pronged effort."
US Defense Ministry official
Transitioning to NATO gear
While the aid does include Soviet-era ammunition, rockets and artillery for Ukraine to use for the fight now, the Biden administration also foresees Ukraine and its neighbors using more Western equipment over the long term, according to a US defense ministry statement.
“Transitioning from that equipment to NATO standard is something that will take years, even decades,” Cancian said. “So this is not something that’s going to happen overnight, but I think both sides want to start the process.”
“We support the idea of bringing a lot of advanced equipment, including also Western modern equipment and many different types of equipment. NATO now has tasked to help Ukraine transition from old Soviet-era equipment to modern NATO-standard equipment," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said following the meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of Heads of State and Government.
"Ukraine needs a wide range of modern, heavy NATO-standard equipment.”
"Ukraine needs a wide range of modern, heavy NATO-standard equipment.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg
But as the war enters its fifth month, the West still has not supplied heavy weapons in the numbers that Ukraine says it needs, said Fabrice Pothier, a former head of policy planning at NATO.
"There is a political calculation that we should give a bit more but not so much that somehow we can feed and trigger an escalation that gets out of control. And in a way, I understand the logic. But I think it's profoundly wrong because fundamentally, that means we are asking Zelensky to fight with one hand [behind] the back," Pothier told VOA.