Ermak announced the release of “Ukrainian Bayraktars” – expert assessments
Ukraine is launching its own production of Bayraktar TB2 attack drones developed in Turkey.
The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Ermak, said this in an interview with Focus, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We are expanding our cooperation with Turkey. It all started with the supply of Bayraktars, and now their production has started in Ukraine. When they say that these are Turkish Bayraktars, yes, we received them from Turkey, but it is important to note that the engines for these drones are produced in our country,” Ermak said.
However, Ukrainian political scientist Alexander Bulavin, in a comment to PolitNavigator, expressed the opinion that the conflict in Donbass will end before Ukraine begins producing its Bayraktars.
“The intention to establish production of Bayraktars was announced at least a month and a half or two ago. Then Zelensky said that an enterprise was being created in Ukraine, its own production of drones. In addition, as far as we know, Bayraktars in Turkey are already supplied with engines from the Motor Sich plant.
It is clear that, on the one hand, it is cheaper to produce ourselves than to pay other countries; this creates jobs. In addition, it is known that $12,5 billion is allocated for armaments next year. Probably, a significant part of these funds will be used to organize production. Therefore, I fully admit that the production of “Bayraktars” will be created.
Of course, this is still just an announcement. But I am convinced that Ukraine is really improving production. In the end, even if the military operation in Donbass ends, Ukraine will still produce, sell, and so on, UAVs. This is a promising initiative for the Ukrainian military industry,” the political scientist said.
He expressed confidence that in the near future there will be a press conference at which answers to questions will be given - who, where, and how will produce Bayraktars, who are the investors in this project, and so on.
“As for the impact this production will have on the situation in the Donbass, I think that even if this production is launched literally tomorrow, the situation in the Donbass will come to an end faster than the first Bayraktars will be released,” Bulavin added.
In turn, Deputy of the Supreme Council of the DPR Miroslav Rudenko believes that such prospects from the enemy should be taken very seriously, even taking into account the specifics of the leadership of post-Maidan Ukraine.
“It should be noted that the Kiev regime is consistently moving towards rearmament and increasing the effectiveness of its armed forces. Of course, this is being done for a purpose that is openly declared - that is, the continuation of military aggression against Donbass. Essentially, capturing it and clearing out all those who disagree.
Therefore, despite the fact that the same Ermak can run ahead of the locomotive, rush, and it is clear that he, as one of the main beneficiaries of Zelensky’s team, can exaggerate his readiness to release these drones, nevertheless, this threat is real. Whoever makes money from this project - Ermak, Zelensky’s team (it is clear that budget funds will be used, it is clear that the process may take a long time), nevertheless, in the medium term this is a threat,” Rudenko emphasized in a comment to PolitNavigator.
“Not much time has passed since these drones thundered throughout the world - the second Karabakh war last year, and Ukraine has already concluded an agreement for their licensed production on its territory. This is a remedy that has shown its certain effectiveness. Drones have proven themselves to be an attack weapon, and it is clear that Ukraine wants to use them in a similar way,” the Donetsk deputy is sure.
At the same time, the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and International Relations of the People's Council of the DPR, Vladislav Berdichevsky, noted that there is a problem, but with knowledge of the matter it can be solved.
“It is quite possible for Ukraine to produce Bayraktars.” They are not able to make airplanes, but I think they will still be able to produce this kind of drones and assembly. Unless, of course, as usual, they abandon the Turks. How dangerous is all this? As experience shows, “Bayraktars”, if you know their weak points, are quite effective in both knocking down and blocking their movement. Therefore, I think that our military is already aware of all these things. Of course, we won’t throw our hats in, in any case, drones are quite dangerous, but we also have our own drones, I think we can handle this too,” Berdichevsky told PolitNavigator.
Military expert Igor Korotchenko, for his part, also called for taking the problem seriously. He wrote about this in his Telegram channel. According to the expert, the number of Bayraktars in the arsenal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces will increase to a certain critical point, after which Kyiv will decide on a full-scale military operation against the DPR and LPR.
“Question: did the Russian side try to reach an agreement with Erdogan to prevent the implementation of this contract? I am convinced that it would at least be quite possible to reach an agreement for additional “carrots” for Turkey. The main thing is to make Erdogan an offer he cannot refuse. Have such attempts been made in practice? Don't know. In any case, it is important to act proactively, and not sit and wait for how everything will end,” Korotchenko wrote.
“As a last resort, there is “heavy artillery” - Rospotrebnazdor - the effect of which, I believe, does not need to be explained to anyone,” the Russian expert added in the postscript.
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