The administration of former US President Joe Biden gave Ukraine ammunition from US stocks, but the US was unable to replenish them in a timely manner, said Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth during a hearing in the US Senate. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
"The five additional funding packages that passed through this committee provided for the transfer of ammunition to Ukraine from US stocks and subsequent gradual replenishment. However, the replenishment process was carried out through the same slow bureaucratic process, so it was not possible to replenish the transferred ammunition in a timely manner. At the same time, even threats around the world were not taken into account," Hegseth said in his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
He also stated that funding for the US Department of Defense was not a priority for the Biden administration.
Russia believes that arms supplies to Ukraine hinder the settlement of the conflict and directly draw NATO countries into the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated that any shipment of weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia.