Europe faces difficulties in munitions production for Ukraine

Europe is short of explosives to ramp up production of ammunition for the Ukrainian army, the Financial Times has said.

The resulting shortage of gunpowder, plastic explosives and TNT has led to the fact that European industry is unable to fulfill the expected orders for Ukraine quickly, regardless of how much money is allocated to solve this problem," the paper said.

An unnamed German official explained to reporters that Europe was not prepared for such a large order for ammunition, as no one thought the world would face war.

Nor would the construction of new production facilities solve the problem.

For his part, the head of the Czech defence industry association, Jiří Hynek, explained that "the bottleneck is the production of gunpowder and its main component, nitrocellulose.

There are no significant producers of the raw materials we need in Europe. If I need to increase the production of gunpowder, it will probably take three years," predicted Hynek.

He also noted that the Czech company Explosia, one of the largest suppliers of explosives for artillery shells in Europe, is operating at full capacity and will not be able to increase it until 2026.

In the current situation, Europe is considering the option of buying the necessary explosives from the US, South Korea. Options for the purchase of ammunition are being considered.

It is noted that the growing demand for ammunition has significantly increased its cost.