re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

quote:

---

KYIV, Ukraine—Like any good boss, Oleksandr Kamyshin keeps on top of production numbers for the factories he oversees. But for Kamyshin, Ukraine’s minister of strategic industries, it is a matter of life and death: The figures that land on his desk every morning show ammunition output at dozens of Ukrainian factories.

---

quote:

---

Kamyshin has delivered before. As head of Ukraine’s state railway company, he kept goods and people flowing after the country’s airspace was closed in the early days of the invasion. Ukrzaliznytsia’s trains ferried civilians and foreign dignitaries including President Biden, who traveled to Kyiv last year on a train dubbed Rail Force One.

But bringing Ukraine’s defense industry up to speed in the middle of a war is an even bigger challenge.

---

quote:

---

The numbers are secret, but it will be years before Ukraine can produce enough ammunition to meet current needs, he said. “I’m climbing Kilimanjaro,” Kamyshin said. “It’s like the end of the first day.”

For now Kyiv is dependent on Western countries that are also struggling to increase production after running down their own ammunition stockpiles. The U.S. recently provided Kyiv with cluster munitions to help alleviate a looming shortage as Ukrainian forces struggle to break through Russian defenses in the south of the country. European states, too, struck a deal last month mobilizing half a billion euros to boost ammunition production for Ukraine—and for themselves.

---

quote:

---

The war was a year old by the time Kamyshin was appointed as chief of the defense industry, but to him it felt like the very first days of the invasion. “Being in charge of a large, crucial, critical structure for your country for the war when nothing works,” he said.

---

quote:

---

Kamyshin’s immediate priority was ammunition, which Ukrainian forces are consuming at a rate of about 90,000 shells a month, according to U.S. officials. To spur production, he visited dozens of factories, which have been dispersed across the country and abroad to make them harder for Russia to strike.

It surprised Kamyshin to find that some factories weren’t working round the clock or over the weekend, he said. “In the second year of the war everyone should be working 24/7.”

His new team of like-minded deputies includes a new head of state-owned weapons manufacturer Ukroboronprom. “These people know that you can’t say ‘Let’s talk Monday,’ ” he said.

---

quote:

---

Taking a similar approach of borrowing from the private sector in Ukraine, Kamyshin has extended defense companies’ contracts to year-end—rather than monthly—and brought in more firms to gear production toward the defense industry. “It’s not rocket science,” he said.

By the end of the year, Ukraine will be producing NATO-standard 155mm ammunition as well as the Soviet 152mm and 122mm calibers already produced.

---