Operation Attic: inside the race to re-arm Ukraine

An old US barracks in Germany is the nerve centre for sneaking arms shipments to Ukraine. The troops are there for the long haul.

Ukrainian servicemen fire with a French self-propelled 155mm/52-calibre gun Caesar towards Russian positions at a front line in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas on June 15 — the day Ukraine pleaded with Western governments to decide quickly on sending heavy weapons to shore up its faltering defences. Picture: Aris Messinis/AFP

Inside the dusted-off attic of an old Second World War building in southern Germany is the nerve centre for Western weapons shipments to Ukraine.

More than 100 troops based at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart have the job of finding and sending arms across the border in the first mission of its kind.

For Brigadier Chris King, the most senior British officer in charge of the highly sensitive ­operation, the stakes could not be higher. “I feel if we don’t do enough, we will sow the seeds of future conflict,” he said.

“This is a generational ­moment and we either help Ukraine to fight or we accept that maybe not straight away, but in the next few years, we’re going to be fighting somewhere else.”

His troops from 104 Logistic Support Brigade and those from 14 other nations embedded with the cell are not going anywhere soon.

“We are planning into the years to come,” said King, adding that he did not believe the war would be over quickly. Russian troops are making slow but steady progress across the eastern Donbas region, where government aides have warned that as many as 200 Ukrainian soldiers are being killed every day.

The US European Command’s International Donation Co-ordination Centre (IDCC) – nicknamed “the attic” – has been shrouded in ­secrecy since it was established in March.

So far Western nations have donated 300,000 rounds of NATO-standard 155mm shells. They are a small part of the 66,000 tonnes of military aid – the weight of more than 5300 London buses – totalling $10.5bn that has been sent to Ukraine.

At Patch Barracks, the soldiers, sailors and airmen and women who make up the team sit in groups huddled around computer screens showing complex diagrams, or communicate using ­secure phones in case the Russians try to listen in.

They rely on a shared database where Ukraine prioritises its military requirements and other ­nations can select what weapons they can provide.

In the middle of the room is a larger TV screen used for a daily 11am meeting with partner ­nations across the world and a Ukrainian three-star general who has been brought out of retirement for the war.

At the back is the operations cell that tracks weapons movements and handles intelligence that can only be shared between certain allies.

Military meteorologists monitor the weather and the ground to assess the impact on weapons ­deliveries as part of the intelligence unit that feeds information into the wider team.

The team operates night and day to identify gaps and dispatch weapons to eastern Europe via ports, vehicles, trains and aircraft. They use multiple top secret routes directly into Ukraine as a contingency measure in case one or more are cut off. Once they cross the border the weapons are in Ukraine’s hands.

A man cleans his destroyed house from debris after a strike in the city of Dobropillia in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas on June 15. Picture: Aris Messinis/AFP

Even the more senior US and British military chiefs do not know the specific routes taken inside the country amid fears the arms could be targeted.

“We have to, of course, keep what we’re doing secure and as discreet as possible so we don’t signpost what we are doing and where and what we are doing it from,” King said.

Two days after Russian tanks rolled over the border into Ukraine on February 24, King and his brigade were deployed to ­Germany with six hours’ notice. At first there were two teams working at the sprawling US military base but three months ago they decided to join forces to ­become the IDCC, which has 15 nations embedded and nearly 50 nations taking part.

Such is the scale and speed of the operation that supplies are leaving Western hands and reaching the frontline in less than 48 hours. He said that the war was now in a “critical situation”, which is why they had to “ensure that we get everything to them as quickly as possible”.

Outgunned by a much bigger Russian force, Ukrainians are desperate for more heavy weapons, and fast. NATO defence ministers and other allies – representing 50 countries – are gathering in Brussels to discuss more weapons deliveries, including much-needed artillery, to the country.

Rear Admiral Richard “Duke” Heinz, the American in charge of the whole logistics operation from Germany, said he was “confident” the Ukrainians had enough 155mm rounds to “support them in the current fight”. As for the ­future, the West will need to help rebuild and rearm Ukraine, he said.

Heinz said he believed that Russia would fail to take Ukraine, saying: “Don’t discount the Ukrainians, they surprise us every day and continue to.”

Asked if the West was giving the Ukrainians what they needed and in the amounts they needed, he couldn’t answer. “It is a pretty tough question,” he said.

The Times