NATO signed on Tuesday a $1.2 billion (1.1 billion euros) contract for thousands of artillery shells, some of which will be delivered to Ukraine after it complained of ammunition shortages amid war with Russia.

Ukraine War Becomes a Battle of Ammunition

According to Reuters, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a signing ceremony at the Western military alliance's headquarters in Brussels that the Ukraine war "has become a battle of ammunition," highlighting the pressing need for resupply. 

"This is important to defend our own territory, to build up our own stocks, but also to continue to support Ukraine," Stoltenberg noted.

"We cannot allow [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin to win in Ukraine ... That would be a tragedy for the Ukrainians and dangerous for all of us," he added.

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NATO Facilitated the Ammunition Deal

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) facilitated the deal on behalf of several allies - Belgium, Lithuania, and Spain - who plan to pass the ammunitions to Ukraine or utilize them to stock up their depleted inventories.

The buyers reportedly banded together to benefit from the lower prices when buying in bulk. A NATO official told Reuters that the contract will likely produce some 220,000 rounds of 155mm ammunition, with the first deliveries seen in late 2025.

Sources said French arms maker Nexter and Germany's Junghans would supply the most widely sought-after artillery shells. Last week, Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said an ammunition shortage, which he described as "shell hunger," was a big problem for Kyiv's forces almost two years after Russia's invasion. 

Stoltenberg said since NATO started a program to address the shortage in allies' military stocks last July, the NSPA has agreed on deals worth around $10 billion (9.19 billion euros), which included artillery and tank shells and Patriot air defense missiles.

Al Jazeera reported that Russia and Ukraine have doubled their artillery and missile exchanges as progress on the front line has become stagnant in recent months.

However, Russia's arms industry reportedly far outweighs Ukraine's. According to European Union estimates, Kyiv was launching around 4,000 to 7,000 artillery shells daily last summer, while Russia was firing over 20,000 shells each day.

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