NIN: The Ukrainian army uses grenades from Serbia, the manufacturer remained damaged

The Ukrainian army is using mortar shells produced at the Serbian weapons factory in Krushik, Valjevo, in 2018, in the fight against Russian forces, reports the weekly NIN, referring to the identification of grenades seen in the video published on the official YouTube channel of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

“Although President Vucic claimed that two years ago that the last grenades from Krushik, through a Polish company, ended up in Ukraine in 2016, there is evidence that two years later another shipment left the Valjevo factory. In total, at least 53,500 grenades were ordered for Ukraine, while there is information that Krushik has remained damaged in this trade as well”, NIN states.

The newspaper recalls that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, in 2019, commenting on the news that 60 mm mortar shells from Krushik were sold to Ukraine in 2016, stated that it was just a shipment.

According to NIN analysis, since 2016, 23,500 grenades have been delivered from the Krushik weapons factory in Ukraine.

“Everything was done in accordance with the law, but despite this, the security services informed their Russian counterparts about the possible re-export to Ukraine,” NIN quoted Vucic as saying on November 23, 2019.

NIN reveals that there are documents that a total of 30 thousand mortar shells were exported from Krusiku in April 2016 and there is evidence of the export of grenades from the Valjevo factory, also to Ukraine, two years later, in 2018.

So, there was not only one, but at least two deliveries, and the second delivery of 2018 seems to refer to the 23,500 grenades, which Vucic mentioned, but also a commander of the pro-Russian forces in Donetsk. According to operational data, on November 15, the Polish company Nathan handed over to the Ukrainian state 23,500 M73 grenades for 60 mm mortars, owned by the company,” Eduard Basurin, head of the People’s Militia Department of the Donetsk People’s Republic, told a news conference. Vucic said the company is owned by “Ukrinmash ‘”. The mines produced in 2016, have presented the data for the realized exports – two years later “, it is said in the newspaper.

Radio Free Europe recalled that after photos of Serbian-made weapons used in the war in Ukraine appeared on social media and in Russian media in early March, the Serbian Ministry of Trade denied the information, which is responsible for providing export licenses for weapons and military equipment.

“The inspection of the database, as well as the data we have available, concluded as follows – in the period from 2014 to 2021, there were no exports of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine,” the Ministry of Trade said in a response to writing March 17 for RSE.

As the Ministry claimed at the time, the weapons were not exported from Serbia to any other country at the time, “where the user would be Ukraine”.