foreign media: official report shows that a large amount of military aid and equipment provided by the uk to ukraine "should be scrapped or replaced"
2024-09-12
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[global times reporter chen yitong] according to reports from the financial times, business insider and other media outlets, a report released by the uk national audit office on the 11th showed that a large amount of military aid and equipment provided by the uk to ukraine "should have been scrapped or replaced."
the u.s. website business insider said that after russia launched a special military operation against ukraine in february 2022, some countries provided military assistance to ukraine. due to disputes among ukraine's allies over the scale and type of military aid that should be provided to ukraine, the western aid process was "intermittent", resulting in ukrainian soldiers on the front line facing the dilemma of weapons shortages at different times.
the financial times quoted the report as saying that in providing military assistance to ukraine, the british ministry of defense "gives priority to materials and equipment that were originally to be scrapped or replaced" because they are considered to have "direct military value to ukraine" and transporting them to kiev "can reduce waste or costs associated with handling these materials and equipment."
the report cited the example that the uk provided ukraine with about 17,000 pairs of military boots "close to their expiration date" in march 2022. if not sold, these boots would "be shipped to landfills"; the 14 "challenger 2" main battle tanks provided by the uk to ukraine in 2023 had a book value of 17 million pounds, while the initial purchase price in the late 1990s was 47 million pounds.
a british defense official said: "war tests our inventory, but it is a good thing for us to clear out old equipment and replace it with new equipment."
the financial times reported that gareth davis, head of the uk national audit office, said, "when planning future aid, the ministry of defense must continue to balance the uk's strategic interests with maintaining the uk's own military capabilities." "this includes ensuring that the british military has an appropriate inventory of equipment and receives adequate training." davis said.
