Florida Gunmaker KelTec Sending 400 Semi-Automatic Rifles to Ukraine

Soldiers of the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine, the military reserve of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, take part in military training in an underground garage that has been converted into a training and logistics base in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 11, 2022. Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images

KelTec, a Florida-based gun manufacturer, is donating 400 semi-automatic rifles to Ukraine to help civilians fend off the Moscow-led invasion, after a longtime customer to the company placed an order and then disappeared.

Adrian Kellgren, the owner of the firearms developer and manufacturer, said he was left holding a $200,000 shipment of 9mm SUB2000 carbines after a Ukrainian customer, who lives in Odessa, placed an order, he told The Associated Press. However, since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Kellgren said he has been unable to contact the customer.

Rather than let the stranded batch of rifles go to waste, KelTec—a family-owned firm that employs about 300 U.S. citizens—is sending them to Ukraine’s civilian resistance movement to help them fend off attacks from Russia’s military.

“The American people want to do something,” Kellgren, a former U.S. Navy pilot, told AP. “We enjoy our freedoms, we cherish those things. And when we see a group of people out there getting hammered like this, it’s heartbreaking.”

Kellgren said he was able to connect with a diplomat in the Ukrainian Embassy via a Ukrainian neighbor and secure a federal arms export license in just four days, a process that can typically take months because of the complex amount of red tape involved with the international shipment of arms.

The guns were sent to be delivered to an undisclosed NATO-run facility, and from there, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense will be responsible for distributing them to resistance forces in the country, according to the AP.

Officials with Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Kellgren’s decision to send the rifles to Ukraine comes after the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, told Ukrainian citizens that anyone aged 16 to 60 could not leave the country, and urged them to take up arms to fend off Russian attacks.

Zelensky also has warned that Russia is preparing to bomb Odessa, which he said will be a “war crime ... a historical crime.” Odessa is a strategically important port city in southern Ukraine with a population of nearly 1 million that has been heavily fortified in recent days in preparation for a possible Russian attack.

Kellgren said he hopes to plan more shipments in the future, according to the AP. He noted that KelTec’s license allows the export of up to 10,000 weapons and that the company has offered to provide the Ukrainians with their own production line as well as weekly shipments.

The gunmaker isn’t the only company attempting to supply Ukraine with weapons amid the ongoing conflict.

Another company, also in Florida, Adams Arms, earlier this month posted a video on social media of a batch of rifles, saying it was “another Ukrainian shipment getting ready [to] ship out.”

“A lot of brands throw their rifles out of helicopters to demonstrate durability, ours go to war,” the company said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a March 14 statement that the state’s Department of Public Safety and Department of Military and Veterans Affairs had collected more than 1,000 ballistic helmets and nearly 840 complete sets of surplus body armor from more than 25 local law enforcement agencies, all of which would be sent to Ukraine.

“In the true spirit of Colorado, I am proud that Colorado law enforcement stepped up to support the brave people of Ukraine. We are doing everything we can to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom, and this surplus body armor is urgently needed to help save lives, stop Putin’s ruthless aggression, and save Ukraine,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has also vowed to send weapons to Ukraine as well as money, food, and aid, while pledging that the United States will “welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms.”

Last week, Biden approved $13.6 billion in emergency funding to support the people of Ukraine, which is to be split between humanitarian aid and security assistance.