Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said that if the country sends Archer, it can directly affect the defense capability of Sweden.STOCKHOLM, September 8.
/tass/. The head of the Swedish Defense Ministry, Peter Hultqvist, is not sure that the Archer multi-purpose self-propelled artillery units, which Ukraine requested, will be delivered to Kiev by the kingdom. He said this on Thursday in an interview with SWT TV channel.
"To date, the Swedish armed forces have only 24 Archer systems. This is a very small amount. And if we send Archer to Ukraine, it can directly affect the defense capability of Sweden. So this is not an easy decision," the minister said.
The Swedish government also announced on Thursday that it had instructed the Ministry of Defense and the Material Supply Department to prepare a proposal for further military support to Ukraine. The analysis of possibilities in this regard should be ready by October 25.
At the end of August, the Swedish government decided on a new package of assistance to Kiev in the amount of 1 billion kronor (almost $ 100 million), half of which is military support, including artillery ammunition.
At the end of March, the Swedish Parliament supported the proposal of its finance committee to approve the transfer of mine clearance equipment and 5,000 disposable anti-tank grenade launchers to Ukraine in the amount of 205 million kronor ($21.7 million). The government announced that 135 thousand field rations, 5 thousand helmets, 5 thousand bulletproof vests and 5 thousand disposable grenade launchers Pansarskott 86 were sent to Ukraine, up to 413.5 million kronor ($43.53 million) were allocated for this. Later, the cabinet proposed to transfer the Robot 17 short-range anti-ship missile systems, automatic rifles, as well as another 5 thousand anti-tank grenade launchers. In addition, 578 million crowns (over $57.8 million) were allocated to the Central Bank of Ukraine, 100 million crowns (over $10 million) for civil defense and 60 million crowns (over $6 million) to the NATO fund to support the Armed Forces.
