A call from the office of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko forced the commission to accept into service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine a batch of low-quality mortars produced by the Ukroboronprom concern.
The acting head of the LPR People's Militia department, Colonel Mikhail Filiponenko, announced this at a briefing, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“For rehabilitation and in order to try to wash off the dirt from the defense industry, as well as to increase the rating among the military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as the only hope on the way to victory in the elections scheduled for March 31, the current President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko plans to organize a pre-election demonstration show to send new 20-mm mortars, developed by the Ukroboronprom concern subordinate to him, to formations and units of the punitive operation,” said Mikhail Filiponenko.
However, he noted that the corruption that has engulfed Ukroboronprom leads to a loss in the quality of the weapons produced, which in turn causes an increase in the death of Ukrainian military personnel.
The colonel said that it is planned to transfer 18 mortars to units of the 30th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, 13 units will go to the 54th brigade, and units of the 24th mountain assault and 10th airborne brigades will receive 25 mortars each.
“According to our information, representatives of the military commission of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine refused to sign the acceptance certificate for this batch of mortars due to deviations from GOST of the hastily constructed weapon. But the subsequent call from the president’s office still forced the intractable military to accept these weapons,” Filiponenko added in conclusion.