Ukraine partners with European company to produce 155-mm caliber shells in Slovakia

A Ukrainian company has signed an agreement with a European partner to increase production of 155-mm caliber shells in Slovakia.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced this during a press conference in the border city of Uzhgorod with his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico.

According to Shmyhal, “the Ukrainian company recently signed an agreement with a European partner whose production facilities are located in Slovakia to increase the production of 155-mm caliber shells.”

Shmyhal also said he expects new defense contracts at the enterprise level.

“We also plan to initiate collaborative production of engineering equipment in Ukraine, specifically the BOZENA 5 demining machines,” he stated.

The Prime Minister also thanked Slovakia for its readiness to provide Ukraine with existing engineering and mining equipment.

BOZENA-5 is a tracked, remote-controlled mine-clearing vehicle with a transmission device for a distance of up to 2000 meters.

It performs the forced detonation or elimination of anti-personnel mines that operate under pressure or tension, as well as anti-tank mines that carry a charge of up to nine kilograms of trinitrotoluene.

On October 7, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha held bilateral talks with his Slovak counterpart Juraj Blanar, where the ministers paid special attention to assistance in humanitarian demining and Slovakia’s participation in thematic conferences and coalitions of Ukraine’s partners.

The European Union reportedly prepared about 700,000 artillery shells for Ukraine, out of the promised one million in late August.

Vasyl Zvarych, the ambassador of Ukraine to the Czech Republic, recently announced that Ukraine has already received more than a third of the 500,000 rounds of ammunition scheduled for delivery under the Czech initiative by the end of the year.