NATO is giving Ukraine 25 million euros for the destruction of 1.5 million rifles and several thousand tons of ammunition over the next 12 years. The Deutsche Welle’s Ukrainian Service reported that NATO and Ukrainian officials have signed a draft of the Special Fund, which is part of the framework of Partnership for Peace.
This is the first time that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is making such a sizable contribution for the destruction of surplus weapons. Ukraine has already destroyed 400,000 anti-personnel landmines with NATO’s help. Serhiy Zhurets of the Army, Conversion and Arms Market Study Center, notes that this NATO project does not only envisage measures to prevent a repetition of fires like those that occurred at the Artemivsk and Nova Bohdanivka munitions depots.
“NATO has pushed through a decision concerning the destruction of so-called mobile anti-aircraft missile systems that are considered the most dangerous weapons when they fall into the hands of terrorists and for striking airplanes. Ukraine still has several thousand of these portable anti-aircraft weapons.” According to the expert, work on this project will start no later than six to eight months from now.
