The Pentagon is facing a shortage of weapons and may be forced to delay shipments of promised military aid to Ukraine, according to a CNN report.
The report cites two US officials who say that the Pentagon’s stockpile of weapons is not sufficient to meet Ukraine’s demands. This is likely to result in delays in the delivery of promised military aid to Ukraine.
Ukraine has been pressing its foreign backers to speed up arms deliveries and lift restrictions on the use of longer-range missiles for strikes deep into Russia. However, the US has been reducing the size of its aid packages due to dwindling weapons stocks.
The Pentagon currently has $5.9 billion left in the congressionally approved “Presidential Drawdown Authority” (PDA) for Ukraine. However, the PDA is set to expire in the next two weeks as the House of Representatives failed to pass an extension on Wednesday. The White House may be forced to switch its approach, announcing larger military aid packages that will take months to deliver, rather than smaller, more immediate shipments, according to CNN.
A senior White House official told CNN that Ukraine will need at least half a billion dollars worth of PDA per month throughout fiscal year 2025.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Western officials have warned Ukraine that a “full Ukrainian victory” would require immense resources that neither the US nor Europe can provide.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to present his new “victory plan” to US President Joe Biden next week. Zelensky said that the success of his plan would “directly depend on the approval and support of the United States.”
Ukrainian commanders and politicians have blamed delays in weapons deliveries for battlefield losses and the failure to hold off Russian offensives.
Meanwhile, Moscow has stated that no amount of Western aid will stop its troops in Ukraine.