'Too Early to Say': Sweden Not Ruling Out Producing Weapons for Ukraine

On August 12, Stockholm, along with Ottawa, announced the deployment of its first batch of military instructors to the UK to provide training for the forces of the Kiev regime amid Russia's ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.

Sweden could start producing weapons for the Kiev regime as Russia continues its special operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine, Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told Swedish broadcaster SVT.

“This isn’t something that I would rule out, but it’s too early to say,” Hultqvist said, adding that no final decision on the matter has been made.

According to the Defense Minister, western nations are gearing up for a long Ukraine conflict. Therefore, Hultqvist weighed in on the intentions of the US, EU and other western countries to prop up the Kiev regime with military training, mine clearance, and weapons production.

“We are positive about all three directions, but eventually we will see how it all comes together,” Hultqvist said.

This comes as the Swedish military announced on August 12 that it would send up to 120 military instructors to the UK, while Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand made a similar announcement about sending up to 225 instructors. Back in mid-June, outgoing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had proposed the initiative to provide basic military training for Ukrainian troops, with the potential to train up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days. Johnson also invited other nations in the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) and Canada to join the ischeme. The JEF is an expeditionary force consisting of Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway.

Russia began the operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine on February 24 after the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics asked Moscow to help defend them against intensifying attacks by Kiev's forces.

The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly warned the US, UK and their western allies against channeling weapons and other aid to the Kiev authorities, emphasizing that such moves only served to fan the flames of the conflict.