The Ukrainian defense industry is not capable of producing gunpowder for artillery shells, former deputy minister for the temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons of Ukraine, Georgiy Tuka, admitted in an interview with the TV channel Pryamoy.
"Seemingly such a primitive thing as gunpowder turned out to be absolutely super complicated for our [Ukrainian] military-industrial complex," he said.
Tuka said that gunpowder is a basic component of small arms cartridges and artillery shells. The situation in Ukraine with artillery powder is especially sad, the former deputy minister complained.
According to Tuka, it is now impossible to produce artillery shells on the territory controlled by Kiev. Any statements about the emergence of such production most likely do not mean artillery shells, but cartridge cases, caps, or warheads for them, he added.