Ukrainian officials on Wednesday denied any role in the September explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, after Western diplomats and intelligence officials said they suspect pro-Ukrainian saboteurs may have been behind the blasts. Russian officials also dismissed the report, claiming without evidence that the United States was seeking to hide its own involvement in the attack.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Moscow could soon take control of Bakhmut, the site of a bloody, months-long battle between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Russia has “suffered big losses,” he told reporters Wednesday, “but at the same time, we cannot rule out that Bakhmut may eventually fall in the coming days.”
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
In race to arm Ukraine, U.S. faces cracks in its manufacturing might: The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, one of a network of facilities involved in producing the U.S. Army’s 155-mm artillery round, is ground zero for the Biden administration’s scramble to accelerate the supply of weapons that Ukraine needs if its military is to prevail in the war with Russia, Missy Ryan reports.
The Pentagon’s plan for scaling up production of the shells over the next two years marks a breakthrough in the effort to quench Ukraine’s thirst for weapons. But the conflict has laid bare deep-seated problems that the United States must surmount to effectively manufacture the arms required not just to aid its allies but also for America’s self-defense should conflict erupt with Russia, China or another major power.
Shane Harris, Souad Mekhennet, Greg Miller and Michael Birnbaum contributed to this report.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.