Ukraine faces air defense shortage as Pentagon pauses shipments
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Ukraine warns of an air defense shortage as US aid slows and Moscow escalates attacks, while European support arrives too slowly to fill in the gap.
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In this Aug. 29, 2017, file photo, Japan Air Self-Defense Force demonstrates a training to utilize the PAC-3 surface-to-air interceptors at the US Yokota Air Base on the outskirts of Tokyo. (AP)
Ukraine faces a potential shortage of air defense weapons because a US Defense Department review of military aid has significantly slowed deliveries, and this delay comes at a critical time as Moscow dramatically intensifies its air attacks, according to Western and Ukrainian officials cited by the Financial Times.
Pressure on supplies has become more acute after months of irregular and smaller-than-expected shipments that followed a Pentagon directive in June, prompting officials and analysts to warn that if Moscow continues to escalate or even just sustains its current higher tempo of missile and drone attacks, Ukrainian air defence units will face critical shortfalls.
The slowdown is particularly worrying because other missiles, which are procured directly from manufacturers under the separate Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative program, are produced in batches, and this batch production inherently leaves gaps between deliveries.
EU nations have also recently agreed to send air defense systems and munitions from their own stocks and to purchase additional ones from the US so that they can supply Ukraine, but these deliveries have only just begun and are arriving only in part.
"It's a question of time for when munitions run out," a person familiar with US deliveries of air defense materiel to Ukraine told the Financial Times.
Moscow ramps up attacks, Ukraine warns of shortage
While Ukraine has repeatedly warned of air defense shortages to the Biden administration, Moscow's intensified attacks have heightened these concerns, and the US delivery slowdown originated from an early June memo by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's top policy official, for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Colby, who has stated his intent to refocus the US military on countering the growing threat from China, argued in the memo that approving Ukraine's requests for American weapons could further deplete already stretched Pentagon stockpiles.
“Reporting that we are ‘depriving Kiev of vital air defence munitions’ is demonstrably false, and the Department of War is working very deliberately to support Ukraine’s requirements, including with respect to air defences," a White House official said, according to FT.
The official added that President Donald Trump's objective was to stop the killing and that he had directed the US to sell weapons to NATO allies so that they could backfill the systems and munitions which European countries were sending to Ukraine.
“However, European countries must step up as well, including by ending purchases of Russian oil and placing economic pressure on countries that finance the war," the official highlighted, a grievance Trump has been calling out in recent meetings.
US pause in interceptors
Following a readiness review of ten critical systems, the Pentagon first paused and then slowed shipments to Ukraine, a list which included PAC-3 interceptors for Patriot air defence systems. The pause included dozens of Stinger man-portable air defense systems, precision-guided artillery shells, over 100 Hellfire missiles, and AIM missiles for Ukraine's NASAMS air defence systems and F-16 fighter jets, according to senior US and Ukrainian officials.
Kiev's forces have, since the summer, expended significant quantities of munitions in their effort to defend against intense aerial barrages that have targeted both military and civilian infrastructure, according to Ukrainian officials.
As Russia expands its air strikes on energy facilities ahead of the colder autumn and winter months in an attempt to weaken Ukraine and press its battlefield advantage, Kiev anticipates facing greater defensive challenges.
