Public Data on Arms to Ukraine Not Precise – Ukroboronprom’s Martin Brest

For reasons of secrecy, the precise amount and possibly also the type of weapons provided to Ukraine is not being disclosed to the press. Martin Brest (Oleh Boldyrev), The spokesman and project manager at Ukroboronprom, said this in an exclusive interview with Kyiv Post.

Ukroboronprom is an association of multi-product enterprises (conglomerate or Concern) in various sectors of the defense industry of Ukraine.

The concern includes 118 enterprises that operate in the development, manufacture, sale, repair, modernization, and disposal of weapons, military, and special equipment and ammunition and which participate in military-technical cooperation with foreign states. Ukroboronprom’s main  functions are strategic planning, interaction with public authorities, and coordination with its various divisions.

The general public, including the enemy, Russia, is unaware of the type of weapons Ukraine has received from its Western allies and the exact volumes involved. If this is, indeed, the case, then exactly what kind of weapons were used against Russian targets in Crimea remains a secret. It could be a new Ukrainian weapon or possibly a Western weapon that the press do not  .

One thing that can be said with confidence at the moment is that the Ukrainian authorities are satisfied with the quantity and quality of weapons received by Ukraine. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the army had only Soviet weapons. At the time of the invasion, all Ukraine could buy was Bayraktar drones. Now the situation has changed.

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Zelensky discussed weapons supplies in one of the latest interviews with The Washington Post.

“The minimum that we’ve had since 2014, in my opinion, is not enough. The serious forces that we needed, like the HIMARS that we see all the time now, or, say, 155 mm artillery – I’m not talking about tanks and aviation – we didn’t have any of that, and we didn’t have the opportunity to buy it,” he underlined.

Ukraine could only agree on the purchase of combat drones like  Bayraktars, but more weapons are needed.  Ukraine is still asking for help to close the skies with aviation. Zelensky has been saying since day one of the Russian invasion that Ukraine needs defensive weapons.

On August 2, the USA announced the 17th package of aid to Ukraine, this time to the tune of $550 million. The issue here is ammunition: 155-mm shells for howitzers and, most importantly, high-precision GMLRS missiles for HIMARS/MLRS (up to 634 “packages” of 6 missiles each). In this case, the President of the United States uses his right to take the necessary volumes of ATS for Ukraine from the Pentagon’s reserves, with subsequent replenishment of these resources at the expense of those produced by industry.

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S., assured that “the U.S. will help Ukraine with weapons as long as it is needed.”