UKRAINE-CRISIS/TANKS REPAIR Kharkiv factory provides rehabilitated tanks to Ukrainian army

Record ID: 146156

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/TANKS REPAIR Kharkiv factory provides rehabilitated tanks to Ukrainian army
  • Date: 21st July 2015
  • Summary: KHARKIV, UKRAINE (RECENT) (REUTERS) SIGN ON BUILDING READING (Ukrainian): 'State Enterprise / Kharkiv armour plant' TANK TURRET BEING LIFTED FROM BODY OF TANK VARIOUS OF WORKERS MANOEUVRING TANK TURRET AS IT IS LIFTED FROM BODY OF TANK TWO TANKS INSIDE REPAIR FACTORY (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) KHARKIV ARMOUR PLANT MANAGER, VIKTOR KOZONAK, SAYING: "The hardware that is brought t
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABH5LW18421J5EFWOQ7KOU8ZFS
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A factory in eastern Ukraine's Kharkiv is working overtime to repair and rehabilitate tanks and military hardware for the Ukrainian army, who remain in an uneasy ceasefire with pro-Russian separatists along the frontline in the region.
    The Malyshev plant is a large factory that once repaired and modernised the Soviet Union's T-64 battle tanks, boasting the processing of over 500 tanks per year during the Soviet era.
    The factory today is still in operation but their task has changed somewhat. Once a part of the engine that helped the Soviet Union defeat Nazi Germany, the factory is now engaged in helping Ukrainian servicemen who have been battling against pro-Russian rebels since April last year.
    Tanks are brought to the factory where a team of mechanics evaluate their condition, strip them down, repair or replace damaged parts before putting the large machines back together. The newly-rehabilitated tanks are then test driven on the ground around the factory before they are handed back to Ukrainian servicemen.
    Manager of the Kharkiv armour plant, Viktor Kozonak, says the work his mechanics perform can be a big challenge, with some of the military hardware not seeing any use for over 30 years.
    "The hardware that is brought to us for repair - some of them have been standing without any movement for more than 30 years. Therefore, for many of the tanks we have to change all rubber parts, in many tanks we have to change all electrical wiring and all electrical mechanisms. Moreover, we have to change all the motors, because over time they have gone completely out of order," he said.
    One mechanic at the factory, Valery, who tests the gun barrels of tanks, described his work process as he looked through the muzzle of one that had been disassembled.
    "First of all the guns that have been brought to us, we identify the defects, and then if the guns are operable we release them for further use, if not operational then we change them," he said.
    Mechanic Roman Drugalo, whose job is to test the communication systems of military hardware, said he is extra vigilant when working on these tanks.
    "We worry about making the hardware not fail at any point. We worry about that a lot. All of us worry. So (we make sure) that all the parts work at 100 percent," Drugalo said.
    Ukrainian soldiers test drive the repaired tanks on the grounds outside of the factory. Each of the tanks is driven at least 100 kilometres and opens fire twice.
    Mobilised tanker Dmitro Matiyev, who had come to the factory to collect hardware, said he was pleased with how the newly restored tank had performed.
    "Yes, I'm fully satisfied with the hardware. I thought it would be worse, but it appeared to be ok. The factory has improved this tank immensely, and the factory has put in it everything that we need right now," Matiyev said.
    The factory said 160 of its mechanics have been working overtime and double shifts to speed up the process of repairing tanks. It says six T-64 tanks have already been delivered to the Ukrainian army and ten restored and modernised T-80 tanks will also soon be sent on their way.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register