A Ukrainian army officer congratulates a young tank platoon commander during a delivery ceremony at the Malyshev Armor Plant in the city of Kharkiv on Oct. 3, 2018. The giant factory transferred as many as 16 newly overhauled T-80 and T-64 main battle tanks, along with five new BTR-4 armored plant carriers, to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Photo by Kostyantyn Chernichkin
Vadym Polyakh, the security director at Kharkiv-based Malyshev Tank Factory, was fired following the disclosure of his pro-Russian sentiments and his intention to collaborate with Russian authorities in the early months of the Kremlin-sponsored invasion in 2014.
On May 28, pro-Russian defense blog named “Diana Mikhailova” republished a May 2014 interview by Russian media outlet Orel-Region based in the Russian city of Orel, in which Polyakh decries the EuroMaidan Revolution events in Kyiv as something that is conducted by “scum from different oblasts” and also endorses paid pro-government rallies of Anti-Maidan in his home city of Kharkiv.