US running low on weapons as it ‘burned through’ stockpiles to arm Ukraine: Lawmaker

The United States is running low on some weapons as it has “burned through” years’ worth of stockpiles to arm Ukraine against Russia, says a Republican lawmaker who sits on the House Armed Services Committee.

“We are running low in terms of our stockpiles,” Rep. Mike Gallagher from Wisconsin told Fox News, adding that the rush to supply Ukraine with missiles and other weapons has hampered Washington’s ability to arm the self-ruled island of Taiwan against potential conflict with mainland China.  

“We just burned through seven years of Javelins and that’s not only important as we continue to try and help the Ukrainians win in Ukraine, that's important as we try to simultaneously defend Taiwan from aggression from the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.

“They are going to need access to some of these same weapons systems, and we simply don’t have the stockpiles at present in order to backfill what we’ve spent in Ukraine,” Gallagher continued.

The Javelin, a shoulder-held anti-tank missile that shoots heat-seeking rockets, is among a wide-ranging list of weapons, worth nearly $4 billion, that the United States has sent to Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into the former Soviet country on February 24.

The US has already shipped more than 5,000 Javelin missiles to Ukraine.

Two influential members of the House Armed Serviced Committee, Adam Smith (D-Washington) and Mike Rogers (R-Alabama), have already written to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, asking the army general to replenish the missile stocks and also work on modernized replacements.

Russia accuses US of direct involvement in Ukraine war

The US and its Western allies have stepped up military support for Ukraine, sending a wide array of defensive weapons.

Additionally, the administration of US President Joe Biden has formally asked Congress to approve a massive $33 billion package to fund both humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine through September of this year.

“It’s not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen,” Biden said late last month. “We either back the Ukrainian people as they defend their country, or we stand by as the Russians continue their atrocities and aggression in Ukraine every day.”

President Biden is also expected to sign the Lend-Lease Act of 2022 into law on Monday, reviving a World War Two-era program that would make it easier for the United States to send unlimited quantities of weapons to Ukraine.

The legislation passed the House of Representatives by 417 to 10, three weeks after it sailed through the Senate with unanimous support. Members of Congress hope that the measure would work, as it did during the World War Two, by allowing US companies to quickly resupply allies sending weapons to Ukraine without the usually bureaucratic hurdles.

US intelligence told to keep quiet over role in Ukraine conflict

Former CIA agents criticize their successors currently in office for boasting about the US role in providing military intelligence to Kiev in its conflict with Russia.

The United States is additionally providing Kiev with intelligence to help the Ukrainian military target Russian generals on the battlefield, according to The New York Times. Unnamed officials have confirmed that US intelligence was instrumental in Ukraine’s sinking of the Russian flagship cruiser, Moskva, in the Black Sea last month.

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