Kyiv, June 13, 2014 – All military officers engaged in anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine will be provided with bulletproof vests in the nearest ten days. “By the mid of August the whole Ukrainian army will be provided with bulletproof vests. By the end of June 17 thousand of bulletproof vests will be purchased, by 15 August – 11 thousand”, reported Colonel Oleksandr Inzhyevsky, Head of the Financial and Economic Unit of the State Procurement and Supply Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, at the briefing in the Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
In the recent years bulletproof vests and combat helmets were not being purchased for the army at all. According to Yuriy Tymchenko, representative of the logistics unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, it resulted in the fact that Ukraine stopped producing these personal armour items. “Due to the lack of financing in the recent years bulletproof vests for the army were purchased in minimum quantities and for the peacekeepers only. Due to that Ukraine has almost lost a domestic producer of bulletproof vests. Moreover Kevlar and Twaron – main materials used for their production – are not manufactured in Ukraine. We are restoring production now. Supply contract for 17 thousand of Ukrainian-produced bulletproof vests was concuded, 3 thousand were already received. Unfortunately domestic production facilities for bulletproof vests are relatively weak. The manufacturer is now producing in three shifts, its maximum capacity is 250 bulletproof vests per day. Production technology simply does not allow for more”, said Yuriy Tymchenko.
Military of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are supplied with 4th class protection bulletproof vests. Bulletproof vests are purchased at the expense of the reserve fund of Ukraine’s State Budget, the sum provided constitutes UAH 118,86 mln.
Oleksandr Inzhyevsky also noted that the Ministry of Defense is negotiating with the Israeli producers of bulletproof helmets: “Management is negotiating with the Israeli and Polish suppliers, in the nearest time we’ll have these helmets here”. Colonel Inzhyevsky claimed false the rumors on supplying to the Ukrainian military the old Kevlar helmets that were stored at the warehouses and lost their protective function. “The military has not yet received the Kevlar helmets which we ordered. Before steel helmets were given out to the military, covering the needs of the Armed Forces by 100%,” noted Ministry of Defense representative.
In the nearest time the Ministry of Defense will renovate ammunition and military equipment for the army worth of UAH 1,559bln and will purchase new equipment worth of UAH 612,5mln.
