Report claims cash-strapped Pakistan sold weapons worth USD 364 million to Ukraine

Islamabad/London, Nov 14: Cash-strapped Pakistan reportedly earned USD 364 million in an arms deal with two private US companies last year to supply ammunition to Ukraine in its war with Russia, according to a media report. A British military cargo plane flew from Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan in Rawalpindi to the British military base in Cyprus, Akrotiri, and then to Romania a total of five times to supply arms to the war-torn country, the BBC Urdu reported on Monday. Islamabad has, however, consistently denied that it has provided any ammunition to Ukraine, a neighbouring country to Romania.
Citing details of the contract from the American Federal Procurement Data System, the BBC report claimed that Pakistan signed two contracts with American companies named “Global Military” and “Northrop Grumman” for the sale of 155mm shells.
These agreements to provide weapons to Ukraine were signed on August 17, 2022, and were specifically linked to the purchase of 155mm shells.
The Foreign Office in Islamabad has denied any sale of arms and ammunition to Ukraine, saying that Pakistan maintained a policy of “strict neutrality” in the dispute between the two countries and did not provide them with any arms or ammunition in that context.
These alleged agreements took place during the rule of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – a multi-party coalition that ousted Imran Khan-led government through a no-trust vote in April last year.
Then Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who had pledged to take Pakistan-UK relations to a “new height”, retired in November 2022.
The report alleged that the deliveries were made in a British military cargo plane from the Nur Khan Air Base, which landed in Rawalpindi five times. The first such plane landed in Rawalpindi in August 2022.