Pakistan Supplies Weapons To Ukraine As West Loosens Purse Strings For Aid

Pakistan is set to send a consignment of artillery shells, charges and fuses to Ukraine, in return for aid and loans, to its cash-strapped economy, from the Western world.

The weapons consignment includes 159 containers of 155 mm artillery shells, M4A2 propelling bag charges, M82 primers and PDM fuses. Project Shipping, a Pakistani shipping and brokerage firm will send the consignment from a ship named “BBC Vesuvius”, Economic Times reporte​​d.

The consignment will reach Ukraine via Gdansk Port in Poland. 

These weapon shipments are alleged to be a quid pro quo with the United States and Europe. 

The development comes just two days after Pakistan got approval for funding worth $9 billion from various counties and multilateral institutions, in a meeting in Geneva, in the name of fighting climate change, reports India Today.

Around $4.2 billion was pledged by Islamic Development Bank, $2 billion by the World Bank, and $1 billion by Saudi Arabia. China, The United States (US) and France also pledged some money to Pakistan.

Funding from the West and West-led institutions will help Pakistan escape default, since its foreign exchange reserves are dangerously low. These funds will also help Pakistan rebuild after the devastating floods which are said to be the worst in Pakistan’s short 75-year history. 

Rawalpindi has recently received other favours too. Late last year, it signed a $450 million deal with the US for the maintenance of its F-16 fighters. 

Pakistan has supplied weapons to Ukraine in the past as well. Some reports suggest that UK-owned C-17s were flying twice a day, daily from Pakistan's Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi, to Cyprus and Romania, airlifting 122 mm artillery shells and fuses for the Ukrainian forces fighting Russia. 

Ukraine has been Pakistan’s weapons supplier since the breakup of the Soviet Union. According to reports, Ukraine has supplied weapons worth $1.6 billion to Pakistan since the 1990s. This includes 320 T-80UD tanks supplied to Pakistan in 1996.