Russian assassination plot highlights risks for western arms makers in Ukraine

Trevor Taylor, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based defence think-tank, said building a production facility inside Ukraine would be fraught with complications, from security to guaranteeing an effective supply chain of components. “A weapons factory would be a primary target,” he said. Expensive insurance and finding a secure location would be a major headache, he added. Taylor, from the Royal United Services Institute, said Ukraine’s ambitions to tap western companies to help develop its defence industry have been heightened by uncertainty over future American money and commitment, after a multibillion-dollar aid package spent months stuck in a political logjam in Washington until it was finally approved in April. “Although US support eventually came through this year, it gave them a greater sense of insecurity about what the future might hold,” he said.