What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
Pakistan has been supplying weapons to Ukraine since the beginning of its war with Russia.
New Delhi: As Ukraine prepares for a counter-offensive against Russia, military leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of rockets supplied by Pakistan, according to a recent news report.
According to the BBC, Ukraine is relying on rockets sourced from foreign countries because it has already burned through its own stocks of Grad ammunition.
It quoted a tank battalion commander saying that Ukraine is currently getting Grad ammunition supplies from the Czech Republic, Romania and Pakistan. The commander in Bakhmut of Ukraine’s eastern region said that the rockets originating from Pakistan are “not of a good quality”.
The New Indian reported in early March that Pakistan has been sending hundreds of containers filled with arms and ammunition, including artillery rockets, to Ukraine since the beginning of its conflict against Russia last year.
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Official documents revealed that Pakistan’s public defence manufacturer had shipped 38 containers of arms and ammunition bound for Kyiv through a vessel named MV Ocean Grand allegedly under the US flag in the first week of March.
According to independent conflict analysts, Islamabad has signed deals with the United Kingdom and Poland to export wartime machinery to Kyiv by routing it through ports in northern Europe.
To strengthen its defense relationship with Ukraine, the Pakistan government’s ordnance factories recently sent 99 containers of ammunition from Karachi port to Kyiv through an unknown third country.
Islamabad ships containers carrying arms and ammunition to Ukraine through Eastern Europe, primarily Poland and Germany, and analysts believe that Pakistani shipping and brokerage firm Project Shipping is the main player in this West-supported initiative.
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In February of this year, Pakistan sent an ammunition consignment of 162 containers to Ukraine from Karachi through Germany after signing an agreement with the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
Additionally, Pakistan is helping Western countries deliver critical arms and ammunition to the Zelenskyy regime, and last year, the UK allegedly used the Pakistani Air Force based in Rawalpindi as the air bridge to transfer Ukraine-bound arms from a British air base in the Mediterranean to Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport in România.
Conflict watchers say that Pakistan has provided Ukraine with a consignment of its shoulder-fired, man-portable surface-to-air missile system, Anza Mark-II, and the consignment was shipped to Poland for transfer to Ukraine. In exchange, Ukraine has promised to help upgrade Pakistan’s Mi-17 helicopters.
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Non-state actors in Pakistan have also been activated to aid Ukraine in the war. As The New Indian previously reported, a Pakistan-origin British billionaire named Mohammad Zahoor, who is married to a Ukrainian beauty queen, provided fighter jets to Kyiv last year. He is also constructing a £1m housing project for Ukrainian refugees in Germany.
Pakistan and Ukraine have close military and industrial relationships, and Ukraine has signed arms contracts worth USD 1.6 billion with Pakistan between 1991 and 2020. Last year, the two countries committed to optimizing their military relations, with a focus on defense production, training, and intelligence sharing. According to reports, Islamabad has also signed an $85.6 million deal with Ukraine for the repair of its 320 T-80UD tank fleet, which was previously sold by Kyiv.
Experts opine that Pakistan, discredited for being a terror sponsor worldwide, is using the Russia-Ukraine war as an opportunity to regain its status as a faithful western ally.
