NATO said today it does not see any imminent military threat from Russia to any member of the alliance, but is maintaining its deterrent capability with its biggest exercise in decades set to begin later this week.

“We are doing all of this to ensure that we have the forces ready so that there is no room for miscalculation or misunderstanding in Moscow about our readiness to protect every inch of NATO territory and, as long as we do that, there will be no attack against it of NATO territory,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

The alliance also announced that it had signed a 1.1 billion euro contract for 155mm artillery ammunition and that some of the shells would be given to Ukraine, after complaints that a shortage of ammunition was hampering its war effort.

“The war in Ukraine has become a battle of ammunition,” Stoltenberg said at the signing ceremony of the agreement at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.

NATO struck the deal on behalf of allies, who will either funnel the shells into Ukraine or use them to cover shortfalls in their own arsenals. Buying large quantities of ammo ensures lower prices.

The contract is for about 220,000 artillery shells and the first deliveries are expected in late 2025, a NATO official told Reuters.

The ammunition will be supplied by French arms company Nexter and Germany’s Junghans, according to an industry source.