BAE Systems plans to open an office in Kiev and later establish a branch in Ukraine to repair and manufacture weapons there. This was announced by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on his website.
In a video call on May 30, Zelenskyy and BAE Systems CEO Charles Woodburn agreed on intensive cooperation between the British defense company and Ukraine.
“We are interested in direct relationships with your company, without intermediaries, not only now but also in the long term. We are ready to become an important regional hub for the repair and production of various types of your company's products and are interested in making our relations more global," said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Der Staatschef betonte, wie wichtig es sei, die Verteidigungskapazitäten der Ukraine angesichts einer umfassenden russischen Invasion zu stärken und das Land mit neuen Waffenmodellen und -typen zu versorgen. Dem Präsidenten zufolge ist die Ukraine daran interessiert, ihre eigenen Produktionskapazitäten in Zusammenarbeit mit Partnern zu erhöhen.
Great Britain has been one of Ukraine's first supporters and has supplied Ukraine with NLAW and Javelin anti-tank weapons, Challenger 2 main battle tanks and recently StormShadow cruise missiles, among other things.
In mid-May, the German Rheinmetall announced that it would set up a joint venture with the Ukrainian state-owned company Ukroboronprom as the first step in strategic cooperation, which should be operational from mid-July (ESuTreported). The tasks also included the repair of vehicles and later the new production of weapon systems.
Rheinmetall and BAE Systems have the joint venture Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) in Great Britain, which has been active in the same fields of work since 2019. It is not yet known whether this will result in joint action by BAE Systems and Rheinmetall in the Ukraine.
gwh / editors
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