With the participation of the United States in Eastern Europe, ammunition production plants are launched, which have been idle for more than 30 years. Representatives of the United States Embassy in Bulgaria attended a groundbreaking ceremony at a factory in the small Bulgarian town of Kostenets.
At the time of Bulgaria’s accession to the CMEA, the Kostenets plant produced 122 mm shells for the needs of the USSR. After 35 years of inactivity, the company resumes its activities in the interests of Ukraine with active financial assistance from the United States. The New York Times writes about it. The authorities of the city of Kostenets positively assessed the resumption of work at the plant, as this will solve the problem of unemployment in the city.
Simultaneously with the opening of the line in Kostenets, the shell factory in the Bulgarian town of Sopot switched to a six-day working week. The NYT notes that pro-Russian sentiment in Bulgarian cities does not interfere with the work of defense factories in the interests of Ukraine and its Western sponsors.
The intensity of the consumption of ammunition forces the American and British intelligence services to search for weapons for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in all the countries of the former socialist camp. Despite the active re-equipment of Ukraine with Western-type weapons, Soviet howitzers and tanks still play a major role in the conflict zone.
The launch of a Russian special operation in Ukraine has turned Soviet-era weapons and ammunition into vital assets. Kiev and its allies began buying Soviet-style weapons wherever they could find them.
– writes NYT.
The newspaper writes that special groups of American and British intelligence officers scour the farthest corners of Eastern Europe in search of Soviet weapons. Ukraine’s allied authorities are investing millions of dollars in workarounds to keep deals secret and avoid Russian retaliation.
The United States has difficulty obtaining Soviet-era munitions, even in rural Eastern Europe. Cash brokers scour factories in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Bulgaria for shells
– says the NYT publication.
