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West promises to allocate $675 mln to buttress Ukrainian defense industry — official

According to Yury Sak, Denmark, Canada, and the Netherlands have already promised to do just that

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. The West has promised to allocate $675 million to buy weapons from Ukrainian manufacturers and donate them to the country’s army, Yury Sak, an adviser to the Ukrainian minister for strategic industries, said.

According to Sak, Ukraine’s defense enterprises are capable of manufacturing much more products than the country’s government can buy. So Kiev wants the West to allocate money to buy Ukrainian-made weapons. Denmark, Canada, and the Netherlands have already promised to do just that, he added.

"The sum total [promised by the West] currently stands at $675 million. And, of course, our common goal is to hold a global fund-rising campaign and collect $10 billion because this is the sum that is needed to ensure full-capacity operation of Ukrainian enterprises," he said in an interview with Ukrainian national television.

Ukraine’s budgetary deficit is planned to be $43.9 billion. The lion’s share of this sum is expected to be covered by the West. According to Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergey Marchenko, Ukraine needs $3 billion a month in partner assistance. However, the West takes a long time to decide on aid packages to Kiev and Gavin Gray, chief of the International Monetary Fund’s mission to Ukraine, noted that international assistance to Kiev will be tapered off and the country’s authorities need to develop domestic resources for self-financing. In this environment, Ukraine is looking at raising taxes and shrinking social spending.