Read more of our recent coverage of the Ukraine war In MARCH Ukraine abruptly rebooted its defence-industry team. Oleksandr Kamyshin, a hyperactive manager with a reformist pedigree, was appointed to head a beefed-up strategic-industries ministry. He has previously turned around the railways and has the confidence of the president’s inner circle.
Perhaps half a dozen of what were over a hundred operating units were still able to produce competitive products. The Pavlohrad chemical plant, for instance, delivered gunpowder, a commodity most in demand in any war. The Luch Design Bureau in Kyiv produced Stugna anti-tank guided missiles that helped stop Russia’s march on Kyiv, and the Neptune cruise missiles that famously sank Russia’s Black Sea flagship, the Moskva.