US is transferring artillery ammunition to Ukraine from the depots in Israel and South Korea – NYT

The US is using its ammunition storage in Israel and South Korea to transfer them to Ukraine.

The New York Times reported on this.

It is noted that the arming the Ukrainian military with a sufficient number of artillery rounds is part of the broad efforts of the United States to increase the combat power of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

So far, the United States handed over or committed to handing over just over a million of 155mm rounds to Ukraine.

Some of them are being supplied by Israel and South Korea.

According to the media, Israeli and American officials reported that approximately half of the 300,000 rounds from US depots in Israel were already shipped to Europe. They will subsequently be delivered to Ukraine.

At the same time, it is emphasized that Israel doubted the appropriateness of such actions since it has not yet transferred weapons to Ukraine.

Israeli officials claimed that Israel did not change its policy on not providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, but rather agreed with the US decision to use its own ammunition at its discretion.

“Based on the U.S. request, certain equipment was transferred to the U.S. DoD from its storage facilities in Israel,” the Israel Defense Forces spokesman stated, citing the Ministry of Defense.

The South Koreans were more inclined to work with the United States on using the stocks than the Israelis. However, they objected to the ammunition being transferred directly to Ukraine.

The South Korean government did not want ROK-marked artillery rounds to appear in Ukraine, thus violating South Korean arms export regulations.

Therefore, a compromise was reached: artillery shells from Korean storage facilities would be shipped to replenish the American supplies.

In addition, the United States will acquire 100,000 new artillery rounds from South Korea.