A senior Pentagon official, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge A. Colby, who is responsible for policy issues, said Washington’s support has relied heavily on “using limited US stockpiles,” and made it clear that this approach is no longer sustainable.

The authors of Politico wrote about this.

“Europe must accelerate its assumption of primary responsibility for the continent’s conventional defense. This is not a matter of choice, but a strategic necessity,” he said.

It is noted that this statement came as European allies at a meeting in Germany announced a new wave of support for Ukraine, focused on drones, air defense and long-range strike capabilities.

Germany said it would finance additional missiles for Patriot systems to be produced domestically, as well as IRIS-T air defense systems and funding for long-range drones produced in Ukraine.

The UK has also pledged to supply 120,000 drones as part of its annual military support package, and the Netherlands has allocated hundreds of millions of euros to develop unmanned capabilities. Belgium and Spain have also announced new funding to support air defense, artillery, and combat aircraft.

The publication writes that these announcements emphasize both the dynamics and the limits of capabilities. While Europe’s contribution is growing, Ukraine still has a severe shortage of air defense systems to intercept russian ballistic missiles, and production capacity is not keeping pace with demand.

Colby emphasized that more efforts will be needed to bridge this gap, and called for strengthening the defense industrial base:

“Europe needs to put the continent’s defense and, consequently, its military support for Ukraine on a truly sustainable basis,” the official emphasized.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the United States is postponing the transfer of weapons to European countries due to the significant depletion of its own stocks amid the war with Iran.

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