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Ukraine’s Zelensky shocked by defense industry’s low productivity

The president recalled that around 10% of the national defense factories and plants are located in Kharkov and outlined key problems their workers are facing

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky

© AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

KIEV, November 6. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has lambasted the production rate of military equipment in the country, citing an example of Kharkov’s Malyshev Factory of heavy equipment that has only assembled one tank since 2009, while in the Soviet Union times the factory boasted annual rates of 900 military equipment, the Ukrainian leader said during his working trip to Kharkov on Wednesday.

"I am shocked by the statistics. The director (of the Malyshev Factory - TASS) said that they had only built one tank since 2009. While the statistics of the Soviet Union time shows rates of 900 tanks per year," Zelensky pointed out.

He recalled that around 10% of the national defense factories and plants are located in Kharkov and outlined key problems their workers are facing. For instance, the Ukrainian president said that the Malyshev Factory has "terrible salary arrears of up to four years." He also underlined that the factory pays miniscule wages and does not provide suitable working conditions - "people are working in spaces where temperatures reach zero degrees [Celsius]." "We treat people like cattle and then want them to work," the leader stressed.

Zelensky was outraged by the fact that Ukraine produces military transport for other countries rather than for itself, demanding that the government get to the bottom of the state defense orders.

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Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky

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