Germany decided to close the military equipment repair center for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, located in the east of Slovakia. This decision was due to repeated difficulties that arose as a result of interaction with local authorities.
As reported by Bild with reference to the statement of the Ministry of Defense of Germany, it is planned to transfer the maintenance center to Germany by December 31.
"The representative of the Ministry of Defense pointed out the changes in conditions and the need to carry out extremely complex repair work on the damaged equipment in places," the message reads.
It is noted that the decision was made after long negotiations, due to problems on the part of Slovakia, which repeatedly created difficulties in the work of the repair center. There were also differences in the interpretation of European customs rules.
The Ukrainian military equipment repair center was opened at the end of 2022 at the initiative of Germany to repair Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers, Dingo armored vehicles, MARS II artillery missile systems and Gepard anti-aircraft guns. Additional repair bases of the German industry are also located in Lithuania and Ukraine.
Problems with the repair of Western equipment
As DW wrote, Ukrainian soldiers are generally satisfied with Western weapons, but the impression is marred by constant delays and interruptions in its maintenance. To a large extent, they are the result of Western bureaucracy.
The military says that sometimes up to two-thirds of the German howitzers available in the Armed Forces are idle due to temporary inoperability. Moreover, even those malfunctions that Ukrainians can eliminate in the field are not repaired for a long time due to a lack of spare parts.
