Artillery barrels forged in Sheffield, Britain, are being delivered to Ukraine’s military. Steel company Sheffield Forgemasters has sent four barrels to Ukraine out of a planned 150 under a £61m deal announced last year. It is the first time in almost 20 years that forged artillery barrels have been produced in the UK. The barrels have been produced by Forgemasters and the nearby BAE Systems artillery factory, opened in Sheffield last year. Under the contract, the two companies will produce 105mm and 155mm barrels for Ukrainian artillery.
Artillery barrels eventually wear out on the battlefield and need to be replaced. Sheffield is producing eight barrels a month, and the first four shipped are expected to help Ukraine test its own manufacturing facilities. Production of British-made artillery barrels comes as the UK and its European allies attempt to increase their ability to manufacture weapons domestically. Forgemasters was nationalised in 2021, with the Ministry of Defence saying the purchase was necessary to secure “critical” British defence programmes.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Sergiy Koretsky, the CEO of state energy firm Naftogaz, is “best prepared” to become Ukraine’s next prime minister in a government reshuffle. The Ukrainian president meanwhile was greeted with uproar after sacking his defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, as part of a government overhaul. Luke Harding writes that allies and Ukrainian civil society pleaded for Fedorov to keep his job. His six months in office coincided with a dramatic improvement in Ukraine’s position on the battlefield. Fedorov’s removal has outraged his supporters, and comes amid rumours of a feud with Ukraine’s top military commander, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi. For our European desk, Shaun Walker takes a snapshot of Ukraine’s complicated domestic and international political situation.
