"It is impossible to imagine". Shmyhal against arms exports during the war

It is "impossible to imagine" that weapons made by Ukrainian private producers would be exported during the war, says the newly appointed Defense minister Denys Shmyhal. He made the following statement in an interview with to the Ukrainian service of the British BBC News.

"Arms exports are a political decision, always and in any country. In times of war, if our defenders on the front line do not have enough of a particular weapon, it is impossible to export it until we have filled our armed forces to 100 percent plus. If there is a surplus of production, we must find ways to finance it and give it to our armed forces," the official said.

In response the journalist said: producers have another position – that they do not have the funds, the state does not buy the amount of weapons they produce, and, in fact, they need money to produce more and better.

Shmyhal said that the government is looking for additional funds and is trying to "order everything that can be produced in the country."

"But in a time of war, direct exports are impossible to imagine... There may be partnership projects where some of the weapons remain in the partners' warehouses. It is possible to form strong arms exchange chains with partners. But not direct exports," the minister emphasized.

• In June, president Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine plans to start exporting its own military technologies to partner countries in Europe and beyond. We are talking about creation of production lines for drones, missiles and possibly artillery for Ukraine and its partners abroad.
• In July, it became known that Ukraine and the US are preparing a "drone deal" on the sale of Ukrainian drones in exchange for American investments and the purchase of weapons from the US.