Zelenskiy says Ukraine making 60 per cent of its arms
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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says nearly 60 per cent of weapons used by Ukraine’s military are domestically produced, already exceeding a target he set two months ago.
“During this war, Ukraine has reached the point where nearly 60 per cent of the weapons we have, the weapons in the hands of our soldiers, are Ukrainian-made,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
“And these are powerful weapons, with many advanced features.”
Zelenskiy and other officials have long stressed boosting domestic production of weapons as a key element in ensuring Ukraine’s future defence.
In his address, he also pointed to a joint project to undertake weapons production in Denmark.
The president in July called on his reshuffled government to take measures to boost production of weapons made in Ukraine to more than 50 per cent.
He said then that Ukrainian-made weapons made up about 50 per cent of those used at the front and in other operations, higher than at any other time since independence from Soviet rule in 1991.
Ukraine has focused on drone production and on providing air defences to counter Russia’s intensive drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Officials have also stressed the development of interceptor drones as an effective and economical way of dealing with Russian aerial attacks.
Officials in Russia’s Belgorod region said on Saturday that three people were killed in Ukrainian drone attacks.
The attacks occurred in four different locations, not far from the border with Ukraine, Russian regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
The drivers of a bus and a van as well as another man, were reportedly killed in separate attacks.
Two other people were also injured.
Ukrainian air defence systems said they were repelling swarms of Russian drones over Kyiv late on Saturday.
The Ukrainian military warned the combat drones were approaching the southern city of Kherson from the Black Sea, calling on residents of the city – and of the capital – to seek shelter.
Alerts were also issued in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Military administrator Ivan Fedorov reported that a kindergarten and a residential building were hit in Zaporizhzhia, with one woman suffering a splinter wound to the head.
Heavy fighting is continuing on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, where the armed forces say that the Russian army has changed its tactics.
A Ukrainian unit responsible for the embattled ruins of Pokrovsk said a unit of Russian marines recently deployed to the area is trying to penetrate the city as deeply as possible in small groups, aiming to approach the positions of Ukrainian artillery and drone controllers.
Russian troops have reportedly attempted to break up the Ukrainian defence lines and establish themselves in new positions.
With the increased use of tanks and armoured vehicles, the Russian military is also attempting to completely encircle the city and its defenders.
“According to available information, Russia is planning to deploy its troops in the Donetsk region for a so-called ‘decisive breakthrough’,” the Ukrainian unit said on Facebook.
with DPA
Reuters
