U.S. To Give $4 Million Toward Explosives Depots In Ukraine

[Rogue Valley]

U.S. To Give $4 Million Toward Explosives Depots In Ukraine

A fire at a munitions depot near the town of Ichnya in October 2018 prompted the evacuation of thousands.

The United States says it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine to enhance the safety of the country’s stockpiles of conventional munitions. "The memorandum sets out a $4 million U.S. contribution toward construction of six explosive storehouses over the next two years for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense," the State Department said in a statement on June 25. The document was signed by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs R. Clarke Cooper and the acting director of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's Directorate of International Security, Ruslan Nimchynskyi.

The statement said that the project will "enhance the safety and security of Ukraine’s munitions stockpiles, as well as advance Ukraine closer to its goal of meeting NATO and international standards for physical security and stockpile management." It said the U.S. Conventional Weapons Destruction program had invested more than $40 million from 2004 to 2018 "in support of Ukraine’s effort to address the legacy of the large quantities of conventional arms and ammunition inherited" after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. In recent years, there have been several explosions and fires at arms depots in Ukraine, a country mired in a simmering war with Russia-backed separatists.

I visited an ammunition storage depot in Ukraine once and was underwhelmed with its security, layout, and general safety practices. The above is a welcome initiative by the US. I have confidence now that these new facilities will meet NATO standards and the US will advise on proper vetting, security, safety, documentation, and facility monitoring.

 

[swing_voter]

North Korea got it's missile technology from Ukraine, it's said.

 

[Rogue Valley]

North Korea got it's missile technology from Ukraine, it's said.

This is merely an assumption by conspiricists.

Several experts think that technology from the RD-250 engine could have been transferred to North Korea (from Ukraine). This transfer would explain the rapid progress of North Korea in the development of two new missiles: the intermediate-range Hwasong-12 and the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Hwasong-14. Due to complexity of the technology involved in this type of engine, modifications or reverse engineering seem difficult to achieve. Thus it's believable that complete hardware could have been bought on black market and directly shipped to North Korea, by Russia or Ukraine.[9] Conversely, there is analysis[10] suggesting an alternative mechanism for North Korea to receive R-36 (missile) engines, or an entire missile, from Russia (USSR).

RD-250

Yuzhmash is the Ukraine state-owned aerospace company and has partners in 23 countries. Today its RD-843 booster stage thrust engine is used on the Antares II rocket by NASA to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. It has also been used on some Elon Musk Falcon series rockets. Musk is very impressed with the Yuzhmash Zenit (Zenith) rockets for space flight and the placement of satellites in orbit.

Elon Musk called Ukrainian rockets the best after SpaceX