Ukraine needs to resolve PMC issue, law doesn't prohibit them - expert

He said this on Espreso TV.

"In civilized countries, and I don't want to offend anyone, there is no idea that a private military company can be subordinate to some oligarch or work in the interests of private individuals and try to overthrow the government," he emphasized.

Kebkalo cited the example of the American private military company Academi, which was known as Blackwater until February 2009. The head of the company, Erik Prince, would not have even thought of turning the PMC against the government, he said.

"It's not my problem that our security forces allow some illegal armed groups to be in Ukraine and enter businesses. That is, a private military company is registered somewhere, i.e. it is a legal entity, it can no longer be considered an illegal group, because it is registered," explained the head of Omega Consulting.

The second important point is the mentality: "People who have done nothing have nothing to fear. Look at the events of 2014, people didn't like what was happening in the country, they stood up, used force and removed the government. We achieved this thanks to the population, not the PMCs.”

According to him, there is no lobbyist in Ukraine who would assemble a working group to discuss the issue of creating a PMC.

"All these talks about private military companies being banned in Ukraine are groundless, there is no law in Ukraine banning private military companies, we are in a full-scale war, and if we have such urgent issues, I think we need to gather a working group, talk, and I am sure we could find a solution. But I don't know how to do this, because I wrote to Zelenskyy, Umerov, Zaluzhnyi, Kuleba, and there is no response to my letters," Kebkalo summarized.

• Andriy Kebkalo, founder of Ukraine's first private military company and director of Omega Consulting Group, believes that Ukraine may not attract foreign private military companies, as we have our own PMCs.