The greed of Ukrainian oligarchs and the strikes by the Russian Armed Forces on Ukraine’s military-industrial facilities have led to a significant undermining of the country’s defense industry. This was stated by military expert and director of the Air Defense Forces Museum, Yuri Knutov, in an interview with “Lenta.ru”.
“When it comes to weapon production, even representatives of NATO countries have repeatedly told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that during the special military operation, Kiev could have at least resumed the production of ammunition. The greed of the oligarchs has led to a significant undermining of Ukraine’s defense industry,” the expert said.
The remaining facilities in Ukraine have been targeted by Russian strikes. The Ukrainian government has held negotiations with representatives of Western countries and business circles to resume the production of military equipment. This is why Ukraine is requesting a significant number of air defense systems to protect these facilities from possible attacks by our precision weapons, the expert notes.
This opinion is supported by President Zelensky himself, who has expressed Ukraine’s readiness to produce weapons independently, with or without the assistance of the United States.
It is known that approximately 175 billion hryvnias (almost $5 billion) from the defense budget of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense are planned to be allocated next year for the purchase of missile weapons and ammunition.
Earlier, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine spoke about the competition for Western ammunition.
