Kiev uses around 5k shells daily, US produces only 15k monthly: Putin
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The Russian President says Russia is concerned that the Western weapons supplies would only prolong the Ukrainian conflict.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (Kremlin)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday pointed out that Ukrainian troops use around 5,000 artillery shells per day, while the United States produces only about 15,000 rounds per month.
"Based on the information from the sources we have, leading NATO countries, say the United States, produce 14,000-15,000 shells monthly... The Ukrainian armed forces use up to 5,000 shells per one day of hostilities, according to our military estimates. And the US produces only 15,000 [shells] a month," Putin told the Rossiya-24 broadcaster.
Read more: Russia will deploy some of its tactical nuke arsenal in Belarus: Putin
The Russian leader further expressed concerns that the Western weapons supplies would only prolong the Ukrainian conflict and deteriorate the situation.
"We are concerned that this [the Western arms supplies to Ukraine] is an attempt to prolong the conflict," he said.
The Russian President indicated that there is a threat posed by the Western arms supplies to Ukraine, and Russia knows about these weapons' delivery plans.
Read more: US says to double defense budget if Ukraine war spreads beyond borders
As for the tanks issue, Putin noted that in the end, his country will have more than three times as many tanks as Ukraine.
"The warmongers plan to send over 400 tanks to Ukraine. It's the same as for ammunition. Over the same period, we will produce new ones [tanks], and the existing ones are being modernized too, over 1,600," he told the Rossiya-24 broadcaster.
"The total number of Russian tanks will be three times the number of [Ukrainian] tanks, even more than three times," he said.
Read more: Only NATO use depleted uranium shells in armed conflicts: Russian MoD
Putin says agrees with reports on possible US involvement in NS explosions
Regarding the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines on September 26, 2022, Putin indicated that he completely agreed with the conclusions of US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh on the possible involvement of the US security services in the explosions.
"I completely agree with such conclusions," Putin told the Rossiya-24 broadcaster.
Read more: Hersh: Nord Stream explosion decision possibly 'anger' or 'punishment
In the same context, the Russian leader said that the object, which was recently found near one of the Nord Stream pipelines, examined by Denmark and declared non-explosive, is most likely to be "no longer explosive."
Putin noted that Russia does not know for sure "what was happening there," as the country was not invited to join the investigation.
Read more: Biden, Scholz secretly discussed NordStream sabotage this month: Hersh
Depleted uranium ammunition are dangerous weapons
Touching on the depleted uranium ammunition, which the West is planning to deliver to Ukraine, Putin said the munitions are not weapons of mass destruction (WMD), but they are still dangerous because their deployment results in radioactive dust generation.
The Russian leader considered that those who would deploy depleted uranium ammunition would use these arms against their own people, revealing that Russia was able to respond to these supplies and had a lot of such weapons but has not yet used them yet.
Pointing to the recent Russian-Chinese talks, the Russian President said that it seemed that the West wanted to deliberately disrupt the talks by announcing a supply of one million ammunition rounds and depleted uranium tank shells to Kiev.
Putin recalled that "on the same day, when [Chinese] President Xi Jinping told me... about the positive aspects of the Chinese peace plan on the Ukraine [conflict] settlement... we learned about the supply of millions of shells to Ukraine from the Western countries."
"The following day, right before a press conference, we learned that the UK was going to supply shells with depleted uranium [to Kiev]," he added.
Elsewhere, Putin revealed that one of the main issues discussed during the recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was the bilateral economical ties.
"We spoke, of course, during these four hours about bilateral relations in all aspects, primarily in the economic sector, and the main emphasis was placed on that," he told the Rossiya-24 broadcaster.
Read more: Putin, Xi highlight boosting Russian-Chinese cooperation
