Ukraine is ready to send 62 Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) to Iraq, fulfilling a 2009 order that had only been partially carried out, officials said earlier this month.

The state-owned Ukroboronprom group has prepared 62 BTR-4 vehicles for Iraq, the firm's Executive Director Dmytro Peregoudov said in a statement.

Iraqi officials are due to inspect the troop carriers by end of this month and the vehicles will be sent to Iraq soon after.

The carriers have been made at a factory in Kharkiv in Ukraine's east.

Ukraine and Iraq signed a $550-million (€410-million) deal in 2009 for the delivery of about 400 troop carriers and about 10 AN-32 military transport planes.

Ukraine started delivering the carriers in April last year but the second part of the delivery was pushed back after numerous delays.

More than 5,000 Ukrainian troops served in Iraq between 2003 and 2007 and Washington pushed for the country to get the military order over rivals Poland, Russia and China.

 

Source: AFP