Ukraine Seeks Contributions from Individuals to Buy Arms

Ukraine’s arms procurement agency, Ukrinmash has sought contributions from individuals at home and abroad to buy arms for the country’s army.

A statement posted on the agency’s website April 1, described how to contribute funds to help the Ukrainian army with weapons and military equipment as quickly as possible.

While not specifying the minimum or maximum amount, it asked contributors to transfer the money directly to the bank account of Ukroboronprom, the country’s consortium head of arms manufacturing and procurement enterprises.

“Ukrinmash is an officially authorized organization for the purchase of weapons and military equipment, and therefore works quickly, without bureaucratic obstacles,” the statement said.

Ukroboronprom had made an earlier attempt to crowd-fund the repair of the An-225 aircraft that was badly damaged in Russian bombing in the early days of the war in February 2022.

It is not known how much money was raised from that appeal. Ukroboronprom has not made any announcement regarding the crowd-funding-initiated repair of the World’s largest aircraft.

While Ukraine has been receiving defensive equipment such as Javelin and Stinger man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS)  from the U.S and other NATO countries, it has been demanding heavy weapons and air defense systems to defend itself against Russia which has some of the best aircraft, tanks, warships and missiles in the world.

In terms of MANPADS too, the number of missiles supplied are far short of demand. An earlier report said the Ukrainian Army was expending up to 500 MANPAD missiles a day while the the supply is in hundreds every month.