Ukraine's Top Weapon Buyers' Message to U.S. Defense Industry.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

PARIS--Ukraine has a message it wants to convey to the U.S. defense industrial base and the government.

The war-torn nation desperately needs artillery and artillery rounds, but what can truly give it the upper hand over its Russian invaders are long-range precision weapons such as armed Predator drones, loitering munitions and the multiple launch rocket system.

Denys Sharapov, Ukraine's deputy minister of the defense in charge of procurement, support for weapons and equipment, and Brig. Gen. Volodymyr Karpenko, land forces command logistics commander, spoke with National Defense Editor in Chief Stew Magnuson and other reporters through an interpreter in the Ukraine Ministry of Defense's booth at the Eurosatory conference in Paris.

Back in Washington, politicians and pundits debated as to whether it was practical to send Ukraine armed Predator drones as part of a $40 billion aid package. Sharapov and Karpenko said such technology may give Ukraine what it needs to prevail in the war.

The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Our readers are about 1,800 corporate members of the defense industrial base in the United States. What message do you have for them? And what do you need from them urgently?

Sharapov: The [Ministry of Defense] is concentrating currently on fulfilling all the needs of the armed forces. You asked a question about needs. First, you have to understand that the frontline is 2,500 kilometers long. The frontline where there is active combat in more than 1,000 kilometers long. That's like from Kyiv to Berlin.... As of today, all the people in all of our armed forces and within the defense and security sector is up to one million people. And we have to support them all. We have to supply them with small arms, with personal protection gear and with the means of communication.

And of course, to carry out a war in this day and age, we need heavy weapons--that's primarily artillery systems. As of today, our need for heavy artillery systems is measured by hundreds. That's why we also need a huge number of rounds for these artillery systems.

I am not going to name the exact number we need. That is information for internal use. I'm just going to tell you I think to fulfill those needs we have to engage the entire military industrial complex of the entire world.

We have received a large number of weapon systems, but unfortunately with such a massively expendable resource, it only covers 10 to 15 percent of our needs. We...