WSJ: Kiev still dependent on Western arms despite increased domestic supplies
“Ukroboronprom has increased arms supplies to Ukrainian forces eight times in 2022 compared to 2021, despite this Ukraine is still dependent on Western supplies, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“Ukroboronprom claims it has supplied eight times more weapons to the Ukrainian military in the past year than in the previous… Nevertheless, Ukraine’s ability to fight both today and in the future remains largely dependent on weapons supplied by the West,” the paper wrote.
As the newspaper notes, some Ukrainian-made weapons, such as drones, depend on foreign components, which are increasingly difficult to obtain due to growing demand.
The director-general of the state-owned concern Ukroboronprom, Yuriy Husev, told the newspaper that after the start of a special military operation by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, he decided to switch Ukroboronprom’s production to a 24/7 operation. However, Gusev claims that this is not enough and that production needs to be increased tenfold.
According to the newspaper, Ukroboronprom is in the process of setting up the production of shells of the “NATO” calibre of 155 millimetres.
Russia earlier sent a note to NATO countries over arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that any cargo containing arms for Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russia. The Russian foreign ministry said that NATO countries were “playing with fire” by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitriy Peskov said that pumping weapons into Ukraine from the West did not contribute to the success of the Russian-Ukrainian talks and would have a negative effect. Lavrov said that the US and NATO were directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, “including not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel… on the territory of the UK, Germany, Italy and other countries”.
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