Reznikov responds to drone questions by citing daily Ukraine defense cost of $100 million
One day of war costs Ukraine $100 million, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in an interview with news agency Ukrinform, when asked why his department allegedly "buys few drones" while citizens are still raising money to buy them.
Supplies from volunteers from the beginning of the full-scale invasion to the present day are 3% of the needs of the Defense Forces, he explained.
The official noted that a day of full-scale war costs $100 million and this amount does not correspond to the budgets of large volunteer funds.
"It is unfair to make claims to the state that everything is done by volunteers. This is not true. In fact, this is done by working Ukrainian citizens, because they pay taxes and these taxes go to the budget, and from this budget they go, in particular, to the army. The army is the largest consumer of funds today," Reznikov said.
The defense chief said that money is also needed to maintain the country as a whole – infrastructure, restoration, and social payments.
"You read the posts of some active experts, and the word 'margin' sounds like a crime, an entrepreneur is a 'huckster', a contract for the supply of something for the state is a 'corrupt deal'. They don't use any other labels. And entrepreneurs are offended," he concluded.
The Ministry of Defense reported that it had adopted 28 models of Ukrainian-made drones, and that "thousands of units" had been delivered to the Armed Forces as part of the department's procurement. Due to security concerns, it is not known which UAVs are being supplied and in what quantities.
On July 26, Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced that 1,700 drones purchased under the Army of Drones program were being sent to the front.
On July 31, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that the Ministry of Defense had fulfilled the order of the General Staff for military drones in full. Later, she clarified that civilian drones are being transferred to the troops by volunteers and supplied by other state civilian agencies.
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