Some weapons provided to Ukraine unusable, not all of ordered supplies delivered

The New York Times reported the information.

The outlet notes that according to Ukrainian government documents, as of the end of last year, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Kyiv has paid more than USD 800 million to arms suppliers for contracts that have remained fully or partially unfulfilled.

Government officials who wished to remain anonymous told the NYT that some of the weapons were eventually delivered, and in other cases the money was returned to Ukraine. 

"But as of early this spring, hundreds of millions of dollars had been paid — including to state-owned companies — for arms never materialized," one official said.

There is another problem with the supply of weapons - a share of the weapons provided to Ukraine turned out to be unusable or in need of serious overhaul.

According to the outlet, about 30% of Kyiv's arsenal is constantly under repair, which experts say is a high figure.

The NYT reports on the recent delivery of 33 self-propelled howitzers donated by the Italian government. It noted that the video of the transfer of weapons shows smoke coming out of the engine of one howitzer, and coolant leaking from the other.

In a statement, the Italian Ministry of Defense said that these machines were decommissioned many years ago, but Ukraine still asked for them to be "overhauled and put into operation, given the urgent need for means to face the Russian aggression."

Ukrainian government documents show that the Defense Ministry paid USD 19.8 million to the US company Ultra Defense Corporation to repair 33 howitzers. In January, 13 of these howitzers were shipped to Ukraine, but arrived "not suitable for combat missions."

The Ukrainian government claimed that the company had failed to fulfill its repair obligations. In turn, the company accused Ukraine of improperly maintaining the equipment.

The outlet also notes that Ukrainian officials mostly refrain from complaining about broken equipment in order not to embarrass their partners.

• Colonel Margo Grosberg, head of the Estonian Defense Intelligence Center, said that in the current fighting Ukraine has lost less than 10% of the equipment provided by Western countries.