Ukraine is forced to buy some types of weapons for prices many times higher than the market value, suppliers often demand to pay six times more than at the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict. This was reported by The Sunday Times newspaper, citing sources.
“What is Ukraine’s problem? These traders know that they have ripped off the kush, and are using the war to drive up the price of weapons to the skies,” The Sunday Times said.
According to the newspaper’s sources in Ukraine, the cost of some weapons has increased sixfold. For example, shells for Grad systems now sell for $6,000, although Ukraine still manages to buy them for $4,700. In the first months of the conflict, they cost only $900 per piece. Tank 125-millimetre shells have risen in price from $1,200 to $7,400.
Volodymyr Pikuzo, founder of the Ukrainian Defence Procurement Agency, told The Sunday Times that some suppliers and owners of arms depots are keeping stocks as long as possible. They know that the price will double in six months, he explained.
Picuso pointed out that overall Ukraine lacks significant financial resources: it has a budget that covers only 20 per cent of its needs on the battlefield. But even if Kiev had enough money, “three to four times more than China’s $200 billion military budget,” there is still not enough production capacity, the founder of the Defence Procurement Agency added.
He stressed that Western countries cannot supply some weapons because their own armies are understaffed.
The newspaper noted that the Defence Procurement Agency is looking for weapons of the Soviet times, especially they are interested in the remaining ammunition in warehouses, because the available stocks are quickly depleting.
We shall remind you that the Bild newspaper earlier quoted a member of the Bundestag budget committee, Ingo Gedehans, as saying that the German government was embellishing the data on the provided and planned military aid to Ukraine.
