Originally Posted by
ORAC
Russia's foreign ministry has condemned Joe Biden’s plan to compensate the release by Ecuador of Soviet-era weapons, which would then be sent to Ukraine, in exchange for newUS
military equipment
An Ecuadorian government spokesperson said that the equipment being considered included rocket launchers, anti-aircraft systems and transport helicopters along with reports that some equipment had been shipped on an Antonov An-124 airlifter on Jan. 25.
Bravo, Ecuador. While getting new American kit is a nice boost for them, it may not help them with their current problem of narco terrorism and gang violence. (A friend of mine is married to a lady from Ecuador, and she's not pleased with what's going on "back home" of late).
Originally Posted by
ORAC
https://www.politico.eu/article/czec...uropean-union/
Czechs want EU to shop abroad for Ukraine shells
BRUSSELS — Europe is falling way short on its pledge to send 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine by March, and the Czechs say it’s high time to look beyond the borders of the EU for supplies.
Ukrainian forces on the front lines are warning they are running
perilously low on ammunition to take on the Russian invaders in a war dominated by artillery bombardments.
The EU had originally pledged to supply 1 million shells by March, and France led calls for Europe to build up its homegrown industrial prowess to deliver munitions to Kyiv. However, the EU now says 524,000 shells will reach Ukraine by the March deadline, with 1.1 million only promised by the end of the year.
Frustrated by this shortfall, Prague is pushing EU countries to finance the purchase of what it estimates are 450,000 rounds of artillery available outside the bloc, four diplomats and a person familiar with the talks told POLITICO…..
Is South Korea producing ammo of the right types these days? Perhaps they are but for the moment they are not sending arms to Ukraine. (From The Economist recently).
Originally Posted by Economist
When Yoon Suk-Yeol talked up the need for South Korea and NATO to protect “universal values” at the alliance’s meeting in June 2022, he might not have imagined how soon his words would come back to bite him. But so they have. On a visit to Seoul on January 30th Jens Stoltenberg pushed South Korea’s president to help meet Ukraine’s urgent need for ammunition. It was time, according to NATO’s secretary general, for Mr Yoon to “step up”.
Since the invasion of Ukraine last February, South Korea has supplied it with non-lethal aid including gas masks and medical supplies. And under Mr Yoon, who took office last May, it has robustly condemned Russia’s aggression. In a recent interview Mr Yoon called it “unlawful and illegitimate”. He also suggested allowing the war to grind on might embolden his country’s vicious neighbour, North Korea, into thinking “the international community would fail to respond to an act of invasion with the appropriate sanctions”. Such statements are consistent with Mr Yoon’s stated ambition, as Mr Stoltenberg might have reminded him, to make his country a more assertive global leader and defender of the rules-based order. Yet, despite having one of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing defence industries, South Korea still refuses to send Ukraine arms.
Perhaps he is watching at how fast ammo stocks get depleted in the Ukraine War, and is building more for his own pressing security concerns.