By KYIV. Nov 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine and the United States intend to jointly produce weapons and air defense systems, head of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence Oleksandr Zavitnevych (the Servant of the People faction) has said.
“Ukraine and the United States will work together to produce weapons and defense systems, we will produce air defense systems and other necessary things,” Zavitnevych wrote following the visit of the Verkhovna Rada delegation to the United States on Facebook.
He clarified that we are talking, in particular, about joint production of spare parts, components, assemblies, and about full-fledged production of weapons.
“And in some cases we are moving towards creating joint ventures on the territory of Ukraine,” Zavitnevych emphasized.
According to him, during the visit of Ukrainian parliamentarians to the United States, they also discussed accelerating the modernization of the Buk anti-aircraft missile system.
“We are ready to provide 17 installations, but partners can only convert five per month. Therefore, we are working in this direction to strengthen air defense,” Zavitnevych noted.
He also said that at meetings in the United States, the issue of creating hubs for repairing Western-style weapons and artillery systems was raised.
“In the future we will produce more of our own weapons,” Zavitnevych noted.
He also emphasized that in the future Ukraine will have to “rely more and more on its own strength,” as their colleagues from the U.S. Congress informally told MPs about.
