Build arms factory in Poland to supply Zelensky, says Ellwood

A “MASSIVE arms factory” must be built in Poland to help Ukraine win the war, the chairman of the defence select committee has said.

Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative MP, said the West had shown a lack of strategic foresight in its plans to help Ukraine “survive and thrive”.

While he welcomed the decision to deliver Western-made battle tanks, he said the model of donations to Kyiv with differing supply chains and types of ammunition was “unsustainable”.

“It’s just not feasible in the long term,” said Mr Ellwood. “Tanks today, yes. But we need a strategy to make sure Ukraine can defend itself.”

With Western military stocks dwindling, Mr Ellwood said an arms factory in Poland could make Ukraine’s armed forces more independent. The concept is modelled on a microchip factory opened by Taiwan, which fears a Chinese invasion could cut it off from the West, in the United States.

“Let’s do the same, so Ukraine can procure their own equipment to their own specification, probably Nato standard, and have a constantly-protected supply chain,” Mr Ellwood said.

Talks have opened with Poland over hosting such a facility, and Mr Ellwood proposed Britain takes a leading role among Western governments to ensure the project can be successful.

Ukraine would be able to use the factory to produce the German-made Leopard 2 tank under licence to further bolster their stocks in the future.

The move would ease pressure on Western arms companies that are struggling to keep up with the demand of the war in Ukraine and the need to replenish stocks among Nato’s militaries.

The Pentagon said it wanted to increase production of shells to Korean War levels in the next two years. Before the Ukraine war, the US army produced 14,400 unguided shells a month. This would increase to 90,000 a month.

“In previous conflicts, we had stockpiles sufficient for the conflict,” Douglas Bush, the US army’s top acquisition official, told The New York Times. “We’re seeking to increase production to both maintain our stockpile for some other contingency but also supply an ally.”

Many of Ukraine’s military backers have warned they have supported Kyiv at the cost of their own defences, a worrying prospect for Nato’s commanders.

Officials in the military alliance have opened talks with arms manufacturers in the hope of them ramping up production, but many companies are unwilling to do so because there is no guarantee over future orders of weapons.