UK to Spend Over $3bn to Replenish Munitions as Ukraine War Depletes Stockpiles

By Staff, Agencies

The UK has announced plans to spend billions of dollars to replenish its military stockpiles, which have been depleted as a result of the country's assistance to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The British government is to roll out the plans as early as Tuesday, which include spending 2.5 billion pounds [$3.3 billion] on replenishing the country's stockpiles of military hardware and munitions.

The announcement came as experts believe that the Ukraine war has laid bare weaknesses of the British military, including the dwindling reserves of some munitions and a lack of necessary industrial capacity to ramp up production quickly as the country continues to supply Ukraine with weapons.

The UK ranks second to the United States in terms of military assistance to Ukraine, which has been engaged in a war with the neighboring Russia since last February. Last year, London provided Kiev with 2.3 billion pounds [$3 billion] worth of military aid.

During past years, Britain has been also among first countries to supply more sophisticated weapons to Ukraine. It gave the first shoulder-launched anti-air and

anti-tank weapons to Kiev even before the war started and also announced in February that it would be the first country to begin training Ukrainian pilots on NATO's fighter jets.

As the war in Ukraine its taking its toll on military stocks of Kiev's Western allies, British defense secretary said earlier in July that the West is not an Amazon delivery service for weapons shipment to Ukraine. Ben Wallace's comments were seen as an extraordinary snub of Ukraine’s repeated requests for more arms to fight against Russia.

He added that Kiev needed to show gratitude for Western weapons donations and persuade some doubting politicians in Washington and other capitals that the tens of billions of dollars they were spending on military aid to the country were worthwhile.

"You have got to persuade doubting politicians in other countries that it is worth it, it's worthwhile and they are getting something for it," Wallace told British media on the sidelines of a NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital city of Vilnius.

As means of recovering the damage it has suffered from the war, Britain announced earlier this year that it would boost its defense spending by an extra five billion pounds [$6.5 billion] to take it to about 2.25 percent of the country's gross domestic product [GDP] during this year and the next. The previous defense budget accounted for only 2 percent of the UK's GDP.

London says its new defense strategy would include plans for a new Global Response Force to enable its troops to "get there first," in addition to an improved "surge capacity" force made up of former troops.