Rheinmetall CEO dissatisfied with the pace of plant construction in Ukraine, blames bureaucracy

Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said that the pace of construction of the ammunition plant in Ukraine is not as fast as he would like, but its capacity will be twice as large as previously expected. He said this during the presentation of the company's six-month report.

Germany's Rheinmetall plant in Unterluss with a capacity of 350,000 shells per year is already being prepared for technical launch, while the Ukrainian one is still under construction.

"We have signed the first contract with the Ukrainian side. So far, I am not satisfied with the pace of work, but the reason is not just us. You know that we are building a new plant, and in Ukraine we started at about the same time as in Germany. In Germany, we are ready, but in Ukraine, we are not yet. Unfortunately, the level of bureaucracy in Ukraine is very high, and I am not happy about that," he said .

"But there is a positive side: now they want to double the capacity of the first plant. This is good news. Another plus is that they are ready to move on and increase production, but they lack financing," added Papperger .

Earlier, he said that it was planned to produce 150,000 shells a year, which means that now it is about 300,000.

• Rheinmetall AG is one of the leading German manufacturers of weapons and military equipment, which actively cooperates with Ukraine in the framework of defense programs.
• Due to rapid growth of Rheinmetall shares, will replace the French luxury company Kering SA (owner of the Gucci brand) in the Euro Stoxx 50 index, which consists of the largest companies in the eurozone.