Chernohorenko proposes customs “green lanes” for defence components

Former Deputy Minister of Defence for Digital Development Kateryna Chernohorenko called for the introduction of customs ‘green lanes’ for suppliers of defence components.

According to her, air-raid alerts halt customs operations, leaving components needed by manufacturers stuck at the border.

“Persistent air-raid alerts are causing companies to delay the production and delivery of drones, customs operations to grind to a halt and components to remain stuck at the border. The front line will feel any delay in weapons production very quickly,” Chernohorenko wrote. She believes that weapons components should not have to pass through customs in the general queue.

Chernohorenko also proposed using Diia to provide citizens, customs authorities and defence companies with precise information on the air threat picture. This would involve issuing alerts by district, by proximity to a specific area, or based on other risk indicators, rather than declaring a blanket alert across an entire region.

Today, 2 September, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that changes were being prepared to the air-raid alert system. Earlier, the Prime Minister had briefed him on measures to counter Russia’s new tactic of using drone attacks to disrupt civilian life and economic activity.

Ukraine is set to introduce two threat levels: yellow and red. As a rule, the yellow level will indicate a drone raid, while the red level will indicate a missile threat, including ballistic missile and large-scale attacks.

The criteria for each level will be determined weekly by the General Staff, the Air Force, the Government, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Emergency Service. The President also instructed the authorities to define alert areas more precisely so that warnings and the corresponding measures apply only where a threat exists. The Government, local authorities, the military, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Emergency Service are to establish criteria under which public institutions, businesses and other designated facilities may continue operating during a yellow-level alert.

The introduction of dedicated customs lanes for defence manufacturing components was not mentioned in Zelenskyy’s statement.