(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday there were “clear signs of a slowdown” in Russia’s defence industry and called for further action to eliminate loopholes in sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, provided no evidence for his assertion on the state of the Russian defence industry. Russian officials have said that production of military equipment has been stepped up.
“There are clear signs of a slowdown in Russia’s defence industry,” Zelenskiy said. “But for the results of sanctions to be 100%, sanctions loopholes must also be blocked 100%.”
Sergei Chemezov, the head of Russian state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec, told President Vladimir Putin last month that production of many fundamental items of equipment had risen significantly over the last two years.
In comments appearing on the Kremlin website, Chemezov said production of small arms and artillery ammunition had increased by a factor of 50, production of light armoured vehicles by five and a half times and tanks sevenfold.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Paul Simao)
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