Critics pounced on President Joe Biden on Monday for a comment he made on U.S. military readiness.
Biden said in an interview with CNN that he decided to send cluster bombs to Ukraine because it was low on ammunition. He also said the U.S. was low as well.
“The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition, the ammunition that they used to call …155 mm weapons,” Biden said. “This is a war relating to munitions, and they are running out of that ammunition, and we’re low on it.
“And so what I finally did, I took the recommendation of the Defense Department to — not permanently — but to allow for in this transition period where we have more 155 weapons, these shells for the Ukrainians, to provide them with something that has a very low dud rate. It’s about — I think it’s 1.50, which is the least likely to be blown.”
Republicans argued his admission was a national security gaffe.
“In this interview is a stunning admission from Biden, something I’ve been warning about for over a year: He says the Ukrainians are running low on 155mm artillery shells, and so are we. The Ukraine war is a massive drain on our national security,” U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) tweeted.
One congressman said if the U.S. is low, it should not be sharing ammunition.
“Biden just admitted we’re low on artillery ammunition. We cannot be sending any more to Ukraine. America comes first,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) tweeted.
A White House official walked back Biden’s comment in an email to Fox News.
“The military has specific requirements for the numbers of weapons systems and ammunition we maintain in our reserves in case of contingencies or military conflict,” the official reportedly said. “Everything we send to Ukraine is in excess of that. So, the U.S. is not running out of ammunition ourselves.”
