If Ukraine is in talks with Western arms manufacturers to boost production of weapons on its own soil, this is probably no more than a scam on the part of the Kiev regime, military analyst Vasily Dandykin told Sputnik.
As Western-made weaponry provided to Kiev is consistently destroyed by Russian forces, and Ukraine fails to reach any strategic objectives amid its ongoing counteroffensive, the authorities in Kiev are not only haggling for more military support, but are apparently looking for solutions from outside to rebuild their tattered military-industrial sector. Now, Ukraine is purportedly about to sign contracts with military companies in Germany, France, Italy, and eastern Europe, including for the production of drones, according to Sergiy Boyev, deputy minister for Strategic Industries in Ukraine, addressing Western media.
"We are in very detailed discussions with them. And we are certain that we will have the contract agreements signed within the next few months," Boyev was cited as saying on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show.
Last month, President Volodomyr Zelensky claimed there had been talks with UK defense company BAE Systems to build everything ranging from tanks to artillery on Ukraine soil. Still earlier, Germany's Rheinmetall touted a joint venture with Ukraine's Ukroboronprom to build and repair tanks in Ukraine. Now, a spate of reports point to further plans of moving foreign production of weapons to Ukraine.
But Dandykin, a retired Russian naval officer, has asserted that Kiev does not want to invest in domestic production, even if it has the opportunity to do so, since it continues to receive mind-boggling financial resources from its Western benefactors.
Why bother to invest - he continued - when Kiev is fully aware that Russia has all the possibilities to turn such military production facilities into rubble with a distant strike using aircraft, sea-based missiles, the very same Iskander ballistic missile systems. He clarified that every and any such production facility is a legitimate military target for Russia’s forces in the course of the ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.
"Ukraine is a financial pump of the European Union and not only," Dandykin said.
Those working in the office of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will soon “burst from [an excess of] dollars and euros” funneled to support the West’s ongoing proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, he added.
He cited the recent news that the European Commission's president, Ursula von der Leyen, has unveiled an aid package for Kiev worth 50Bln euros ($55Bln), set aside to “rebuild” Ukraine. However, Russia’s forces only target military facilities, said Dandykin, unlike the Kiev regime, which consistently strikes civilian targets, as it had been doing for years in Donbass.
Dandykin said that if any weapons-producing facility begins to be built on Ukrainian territory - by a German company or some other European arms manufacturer - Russia has “every right” to target the factory with Kalibr cruise missiles, or Oniks supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles. Russian troops fighting Ukraine’s regime have already done this several times, striking deep into Ukraine's territory to hit repair units, drone-assembly plants and many other facilities. This also applies to shipbuilding and other objects of military importance.
Knowing full well that this is what to expect, Kiev's authorities would be quite content to use donated money and allow Western firms to invest their time and money in building military production on Ukraine’s soil. Once such facilities were wiped out by Russian forces, the Ukrainian side would simply go begging for more hand-outs, Dandykin added.
As for whether incoming Western manufacturers would set up factories directly on the territory of Ukraine, the military analyst believed they will be wary of doing so at present.
“If they are privately owned, and that is likely, then there is no reason for this. Unless they are somehow forced to do it, or there is some sort of collusion. But at the moment, when they are still proceeding with this counteroffensive, who would think of starting something like that in Ukraine, knowing that this would be a legitimate target for our troops?”
As to what countries might be more likely to agree to host production facilities churning out weapons for Ukraine, the analyst suggested Poland as a likely option, or boosted production in Slovakia, Germany. However, the question is, when and how will everything which is needed be delivered, especially since the European countries' own stockpiles are being rapidly depleted, and taxpayers' money would be needed to boost such production for the needs of Kiev.
The Kiev regime is quickly devouring everything being given to it, said Dandykin. But it has no qualms about begging for more, convinced that the war will write everything off.
Looking ahead, the future of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex looks pretty bleak if, indeed, production is transferred to foreign companies, the retired Russian naval officer emphasized. Besides the obvious fact that Ukraine will have ceded it to Western control, at present it is a "legitimate target for Russia's missile and aviation strikes," Dandykin concluded.