Additional Non-Combat Supplies Support for Ukraine

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The Ministry of National Defense has decided to provide additional non-combat supplies to Ukraine. This effectively amounts to a rejection of the military equipment requested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his video address to members of the National Assembly from all parties on the 11th.

According to military officials on the 13th, the Ministry of National Defense plans to support Ukraine with military supplies worth approximately 2.2 billion KRW, including bulletproof vests, helmets, combat rations, and medical supplies, and is preparing for transportation. This is about twice the amount sent last month (1 billion KRW), and mainly consists of items urgently requested by Ukraine, the officials said.

On the 12th, the Ministry of National Defense completed discussions with the Ukrainian side regarding the support method and plans to send the additional supplies several times starting next week via the cargo hold of regular European flight routes.

Regarding this, Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Boo Seung-chan said at a regular briefing the day before, "The review for additional support of military supplies has been completed, and consultations between the two countries are currently underway," adding, "Therefore, we believe support will be possible in the near future." However, in line with the position of 'no support for lethal weapons,' it appears that the current government will not provide weapons to Ukraine for the time being.

Earlier, on the 8th, Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, directly requested air defense weapon systems in a phone call with Minister of National Defense Suh Wook. However, Minister Suh explained at the time, "Considering our security situation and the impact on the military’s readiness posture, we have a position that support for lethal weapon systems to Ukraine is limited," the Ministry of National Defense stated.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.