Biden, Scholz to mull moving some German production of shells to US

US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz may raise the issue of moving part of German shell production to the US at a meeting in Washington, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.

The German leader may come under pressure from President Joe Biden over the struggle to produce enough ammunition for the front lines and the two leaders are likely to discuss ways to cooperate more on stepping up manufacturing. It will be 64-year-old Scholz’s second visit to the White House since taking office in 2021.

Ukrainian forces are facing a fresh Russian offensive as the war enters its second year and the supply of weaponry will be a crucial factor in determining how the fighting plays out.

While the US and Germany already agreed in lockstep to send battle tanks and Patriot missiles to Ukraine earlier this year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s troops are still waiting on much of that equipment and face a shortage of basic artillery shells.

Berlin is exploring joint procurement within the European Union, but the Brussels bureaucracy could slow the process, a German official said. One potential solution would involve moving some of the production to the US where there is more capacity.