The News
Rheinmetall’s military facilities in Ukraine are a legitimate military target for Russia’s army, a Kremlin spokesperson warned Tuesday.
“Certainly it is,” Dmitry Peskov said when asked if the company’s vehicle maintenance plant in Ukraine was a legitimate target, the Russian news agency TASS reported.
Rheinmetall, Germany’s largest defense company, currently plans to have four facilities inside Ukraine, and is establishing ammunition, gunpowder, and air defense production lines inside the country in addition to the vehicle plant. The company has faced repeated Russian threats, and Western intelligence agencies foiled an assassination attempt against its CEO in July.
Kyiv has frequently called for Western weapons manufacturers to set up shop in Ukraine, arguing that the country needs a robust defense industrial base to make it more self-sufficient.
The US defense firm Northrop Grumman has also finalized an agreement to build ammunition inside Ukraine, but has stressed that no foreign personnel will enter the country.
Efforts to build up Ukraine’s defense sector have been complicated by the challenges of obtaining insurance for large-scale investments in a country that is at war.