NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (Photo: Reuters).
"The war in Ukraine has become a battle for ammunition," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after the contract signing ceremony at the alliance headquarters in Brussels on January 23.
The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) signed the deal on behalf of several allies. The contract, worth 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), allows NATO to buy 155mm artillery shells.
NATO officials revealed that the contract could provide about 220,000 artillery shells, with the first deliveries expected by the end of 2025.
According to a source, the artillery shells will be supplied by French arms manufacturer Nexter and German Junghans.
Mr Stoltenberg said that since NATO launched a programme to address the shortfall in allied military stockpiles last July, the NSPA had agreed deals worth around $10 billion (9.19 billion euros). These included artillery shells, tank ammunition and Patriot air defence missiles.
At a meeting in February, NATO defense ministers will discuss other ways to boost defense industry production, a move the NATO secretary general said was necessary to ensure the West could continue to support Kiev.
Last week, Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov described the country's ammunition shortage as a "hunger for shells," saying it was a major problem for Kiev's military after nearly two years of conflict with Russia.
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