Thread by @CrimsonInquiry

The head of Ukraine's 🇺🇦 state defense conglomerate Ukroboronprom is being replaced. According to a detailed story by Ekonomichna Pravda, the writing has been on the wall for months. Former head Yuriy Gusev has been replaced by Herman Smetanin, head of Kharkiv's Malyshev Plant./1

The article claims that when Oleksandr Kamyshin, the former CEO of the beloved Ukrainian state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia, was made 🇺🇦 Minister of Strategic industries in March, things immediately began to change, drawing a contrast to previous levels of dysfunction. /2

The accusations from sources in the article are fairly incriminating:

"Exactly three months after the appointment of Kamyshin as the head of the Ministry of Strategy and Industry, it became known that there was no longer a place for Gusev in the 'working team' of 'defense'." /3

"Problems [with] Gusev due to the concern's poor performance. In all directions. Everything there is quite telling. For example, over the past three months, we have consistently produced more projectiles of our own production per month than in the entire year of 2022." /4

"Same story with ATGMs. Over the last month, we tripled the production of "Stugn". This is a cool complex, which was simply not produced in normal quantities, although we are at war. And now they are producing, so it was possible," /5

"Regarding armored vehicles, the situation in general is deplorable. Our BTR-4. We have to produce dozens of them a month, it is realistic to do. In May, [Ukrob.] produced one BTR-4E ... The same is true of BMP. There is a development of our BMP-U. How many were made? Zero!" /6

"There are also no Oplot tanks, which should have become a working base for the Armed Forces alongside Western equipment. They made one, went for a ride on it, told about the purchase for the Armed Forces, but no one even inquired whether we can produce them and when." /7

The article also states that Zelenskyy was promised that Grim-2 ballistic missiles would be ready for combat in May, and would have profound effects on Russian infrastructure — a program that, according to other sources, is now only 65-70% complete: /8defence-blog.com/ukraine-makes-…

According the piece, this will be the first time since the fall of the USSR that Ukroboronprom will be run by someone with a native defense production background. Smetanin is also notable for his youth: 31 years old at present — after he became the head of Malyshev at 28. /9

The article also reiterates a claim that Ukraine 🇺🇦 is now producing "tens of 1000s of shells per month", following Kamyshin's intervention. It also claims the company failed to establish large-scale production of drones — which would explain the reliance on commercial help. /10

According to Ukrainska Pravda, Zelenskyy has given the new Ukroboronprom head three main tasks:
1) "To increase the production of all weapons"
2) "To cleanse the industry of corruption"
3) "To complete the reform of the defense industry" /11pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/…

Primary source: Ekonomichna Pravda
epravda.com.ua/publications/2…