Turchynov: the West is reluctant to supply Ukraine with weapons
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Alexander Turchynov said that during his incumbency he became disappointed with the unwillingness of Western partners to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons.
"I was unable to convince our strategic partners that military-technical assistance to Ukraine is a direct consequence of the Budapest Memorandum and, in the end, it's for their protection too! I constantly argued at all international meetings that a strong Ukrainian army armed with modern weapons is the real factor of peace in Europe and a reliable shield for the Western world," he said in an interview with Novoye Vremya, excerpts from which are published on the newspaper’s website.
Turchynov also expressed his regret over the fact that among Ukraine’s partners, especially the Europeans, the dominant thought is that "Russia cannot be provoked."
"In the spring of 2014, when it was especially hard, I really asked them: give us military equipment and weapons. We need to defend the country. In those days I had planned the pace of mobilization on the basis of how much soldier's boots we could produce. We had to create an army, equip it, and dress our soldiers. Volunteers have helped to protect the country but from our partners we have not received a single bullet. And today the supply of lethal weapons to Ukraine is blocked under various pretexts," the NSDC Secretary noted.
He also said that Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard are supplied with weapons and military equipment mainly by domestic Oboronprom: from pistols to tanks and missiles. At the same time, Turchynov stressed, without effective military-technical cooperation with strategic partners the Ukrainian defense industry will not be able to satisfy all of the army’s needs for arms and equipment for a new generation.