US gunmaker donates abandoned rifles worth $200,000 to Ukrainian forces

An abandoned order of rifles, which are worth $200,000, is being donated to Ukraine by a weapons manufacturing plant in Florida.

The Keltec, which is based in Cocoa, Florida, had earlier got an order for 400 9mm carbine rifles from a client in Odesa, Ukraine. By the time the gun manufacturer could finalise the order after completion of the bureaucratic process of sending the weapons, Odesa was under siege. The client had also become unreachable.

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It prompted the firm to send the weapons to the Ukrainian military.

Industrial Production Director Adrian Kellgren on Friday said, "This is just right to get them over there so they do what they were designed to do — defend their home and state."

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In a Facebook post on Friday, the company said that it didn't intend to announce the donation. But the media had picked up the story through its filing to the Justice Department to be registered as foreign agents to help the shipment reach Ukraine's army.

The guns will first be shipped to an unknown NATO country and then arrive in Ukraine. The weapons may prove helpful toUkrainian armed forces, who are fighting invading Russian troops.

(With inputs from agencies)