Egypt, which allegedly earlier planned to export rockets for MLRS to Russia, "after Washingtonʼs diplomatic offensive" approved the production of ammunition for the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
The American newspaper Washington Post writes about it with reference to the leaked Pentagon documents.
The plan to supply shells to the Russians stopped in March 2023. This was preceded by negotiations with high-ranking US officials.
Therefore, Egypt postponed the agreement with Moscow and approved the sale of 152-mm and 155-mm US artillery shells for transfer to Ukraine.
The document, whose authenticity has not been confirmed, said Cairo allegedly intended to use its weapons production facilities for Ukraine as "leverage" to obtain advanced US military equipment, including F-35 fighter jets and Patriot air defense systems.
At the same time, the record does not indicate whether Egypt handed over ammunition to the American side and whether it revived cooperation with Moscow.
At the end of February, the top officials of the White House and the State Department for Middle East affairs, Brett McGurk and Barbara Leaf, respectively, came to Cairo, and in March — the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. A leaked document from March 9 (the day after the Pentagon chiefʼs visit) says that Cairo approved the sale of US missiles.
- On April 11, WP wrote that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi allegedly agreed with Moscow in February to supply up to 40 000 122-mm Sakr-45 rockets. Official Cairo denies this. A US government official said on condition of anonymity that there was no indication that Egypt had followed through on the plan.