US defense companies making huge profits on Ukraine – Zelensky

Washington is sending obsolete weapons to Kiev and replacing them with new ones ordered from private contractors, the Ukrainian leader says

The Ukraine conflict has been a bonanza for the US defense-industrial complex, which has benefited from massive contracts for weapons meant to supply Kiev and replenish domestic stockpiles, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has said.

In an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan on Tuesday, Zelensky argued that a significant portion of the billions the US has allocated to Ukraine has in fact circulated back to boost US domestic arms production.

“Part of the money that people in the US talk about was actually financing production in the US,” the Ukrainian leader said. “The companies that were producing weapons [for Kiev] received this money… American companies now have contracts for these arms at the highest prices in the last 50 years because there is such huge demand due to the Russian offensive.”

A significant part of the funding went to “specific companies, specific plants, making profits for specific people. It went toward the salaries of US citizens working in those companies,” he added.

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According to Zelensky, the campaign to support Ukraine has also helped the US renew its arsenal, as Washington has in many cases supplied Kiev with relatively obsolete weapons produced in the 1970s and 1980s. He added, however, that Ukraine is grateful for the help, despite earlier criticizing the West for delays and the amount of weaponry being sent.

On top of this, Zelensky argued, “the US received from Ukraine the experience of modern, large-scale land warfare. Americans and Europeans – but Americans in the first place – have all the information… on what in American weapons works and what does not.”

Russia has condemned Western military support for Ukraine, arguing that it only prolongs the conflict and has led to NATO’s direct involvement in the hostilities, resulting in escalating tensions.

In September, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that while the US is profiting from the Ukraine conflict, there are significant long-term consequences. “The path of total militarization of any economy is ultimately a dead end,” Zakharova said, adding that a post-conflict transition from a militarized economy to peacetime production is extremely difficult.

“Under these conditions, the American military-industrial complex will inevitably resort to a tried and tested method: It will try to ignite a new armed conflict under any pretext,” she warned.