Ukraine buys Indian shells via Europe despite Russian protests – Reuters

Indian artillery shells, procured through European intermediaries, have been supplied to Ukraine for over a year. Despite Russian objections, India has neither interfered with nor halted this trade.

Source: Reuters, citing 11 Indian and European government officials and defence industry sources

Details: Reuters says the Kremlin has raised the issue of halting the supply of shells at least twice, including during a July meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Indian law restricts the use of exported weapons only to the declared buyer, but this law is not enforced.

Reuters sources indicate that despite India's official stance of non-involvement in the supply of ammunition to Ukraine, some European countries, such as Italy and Czechia, regularly transport Indian shells to Ukraine. Specifically, the Italian defence contractor Meccanica per l'Elettronica e Servomeccanismi (MES) purchases empty shells from India, fills them with explosives, and ships them to Ukraine.

Customs records show that the exported ammunition included 155 mm shells and 120 mm and 125 mm bombs.

Two sources in the Indian government and defence industry told Reuters that Ukraine uses less than 1% of Indian-made weapons out of the total amount of ammunition imported by Kyiv.

According to Reuters, India is using the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to increase its arms exports. Customs data shows that Indian ammunition exports to Europe have increased from US$2.8 million to US$135.25 million since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

India has maintained a neutral stance on the war in Ukraine, not joining Western sanctions against Russia, which supplies more than 60% of India's arms imports.

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