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Ukrainian Defense Ministry reports critical shortage of some types of ammunition

Ivan Gavrilyuk reiterated that Ukraine expects to receive from the West air defense systems, aircraft, long-range missiles, shells, especially of the 155mm caliber, and modern electronic warfare systems

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. Ukraine’s inventory of some types of ammunition has declined to a critical level, the country's Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant-General Ivan Gavrilyuk said.

"The situation is such that we do not have any F-16s yet, and the stockpiles of ammunition of certain types are falling to a critical level," he said in a column for the Ukrinform news agency.

He said the defense industry in Ukraine and its Western partners is unable to produce large amounts of ammunition over a short period of time, and it takes time to put new capacity into operation. According to Gavrilyuk, the outcome of the fighting for Ukraine depends largely on the supply of weapons from its allies.

The official reiterated that Ukraine expects to receive from the West air defense systems, aircraft, long-range missiles, shells, especially of the 155mm caliber, and modern electronic warfare systems.

Kiev has repeatedly stated it has a shortage of ammunition, especially for Soviet-designed 152mm and 122mm caliber guns, as well as for the Stormer, Avenger and Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems. Western partners, who have ramped up their arms supplies to Ukraine many times over since Russia started its special military operation, nevertheless concede that they cannot cover all the ammunition needs of the Ukrainian armed forces. Kiev is trying to shift the responsibility for the setbacks of its forces onto its allies, blaming, for example, delayed shipments of artillery rounds.