Ukraine's anti-corruption agency blacklists Chinese drone camera makers: why it harms army

Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has included Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua Technology in the list of international war sponsors, a decision that has already been criticised by military experts and projects like United 24. After all, not all sanctions are equally useful. Some, on the contrary, can openly harm the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

On June 5, the NAPC officially added two Chinese manufacturers and suppliers of video surveillance equipment (Hikvision and Dahua Technology) to the so-called blacklist of international war sponsors.

“The NACP explained this decision by the fact that both companies are actively operating in Russia, filling the budget of the aggressor country and supplying dual-use equipment that can be used for military purposes. The agency also refers to the cases of the United States and Australia, which included Dahua Technology and Hikvision in the list of companies whose products pose a threat to national security”

Let me answer the question of why this practice cannot be useful for Ukraine.

Ukraine is not the United States or even Australia. The capabilities of the national military-industrial complex are incomparable, as is the financial capacity of the state budget. Moreover, we are a country at war.

That is why, unlike our Western partners, we simply cannot afford to impose a taboo on products purchased with public funds, which are in dire need of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and have proven themselves in the field.

"We can assume that the anti-corruption agency, when making a decision that worsens the supply of critical spare parts for most drones that are assembled for the needs of the army, might not have known about this. As well as the fact that hundreds of kilometres of the frontline are monitored through Dahua's "eyes". It happens, and here people wrote about several million dollars in taxes paid in Russia by the 'daughter companies' of Chinese brand owners in Russia," commented Oleksandr Hanushchyn, Major of the 103rd Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a member of the Lviv Regional Council.

Moreover, since 2016, almost 40,000 Hikvision cameras have been used by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies in different parts of the country to organise video surveillance systems, and several hundred thousand more cameras are integrated with the same software on the Hikcentral platform.

“According to statistics, Hikvision and Dahua cover about 60% of the Ukrainian smart camera market. Another 20-25% is accounted for by China's Uniview and Tiandy, and up to 15% is shared by other global manufacturers. The withdrawal of the two leaders from the Ukrainian market will require replacing the entire infrastructure, and this will take at least six months.”

In turn, this will mean that throughout this period, the soldiers on the front line will experience an acute shortage of "eyes'' and "war birds". So what does the NACP propose? To put the war on hold for six months?

And that's not all. The situation with Dahua Technology and Hikvision could become a precedent and jeopardise the purchase of Mavic for the Armed Forces.

It is no secret that Russians are also actively using so-called wedding drones in the war. So what will prevent the NACP from adding their manufacturer DJI to the same blacklist? And how much will this decision hurt the Ukrainian military?

According to Borys Kushniruk, this practice can go too far. In fact, the same Hikvision and Dahua factories that were targeted by the NACP are contract manufacturers of cameras for the Japanese brand Panasonic, German Bosch and American Honeywell in China. Does this mean that we now have to stop using the products of these global brands?

The anti-corruption agency's decision has already seriously slowed down the United24 project to manufacture marine drones.

Amid this, our enemy is learning from its mistakes and increasing the number of drones, thermal imagers, and surveillance cameras. Do not underestimate the enemy, it can be too expensive. Moreover, we should not make decisions that will put our defenders at a deliberate disadvantage compared to the aggressor.

Let me remind you that despite the enormous losses and stalling in Donbas, the Russian occupying forces have not abandoned their ambitious plans to reach the administrative borders of the Luhansk region and create a strike group that will threaten the Ukrainian garrison in Sloviansk. To do this, the Russian forces are distracting the attention of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and pulling up reserves for an offensive on the Lyman and Kupiansk directions.

Specially for Espreso. 

About the author. Dmytro Sniehyriov, columnist for Espreso.

The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the authors of the blogs.