Key Putin ally claims Russia is dismantling seized western weapons to turn 'the enemy's experience to our advantage' in Ukraine

• Dmitry Medvedev has hit back at Western reports that Russia is running short of weapons in Ukraine.
• He said Russian factories were working "around the clock" to produce the "latest technologies."

Dmitry Medvedev, a key ally of Vladimir Putin, has rejected Western reports that Russia is running low on weapons and ammunition.

The former Russian president and deputy chairman of Russia's security council said its arms factories were working "around the clock" to produce the "latest technologies."

In an article published on Saturday in Russia's National Defense Magazine, Medvedev said that military production at numerous factories in Russia had "increased tenfold" — and said new workshops and factories were opening to boost supplies for Putin's war in Ukraine.

He also said that Russia was improving its arsenal by studying high-tech Western weapons seized on the battlefield. By dismantling them "piece by piece," Medvedev said Russia had "turned the enemy's experience to our advantage."

In December, the UK's chief of defense staff said that Russia was facing a "critical shortage" of artillery shells, The Economist reported.

Retired US Army General Mark Hertling told CNN: "I think Mr. Putin is realizing that he's quickly running out of the kinds of munitions he needs to continue this fight."

In his article, Medvedev praised Russians' ongoing support for the war in Ukraine and said salaries in the country's defense industry were rising.

He said he'd visited various military sites staffed by "top-class professionals" that work "smoothly and without failures." Medvedev wrote: "Behind machine tools, in design offices, and at training grounds, I saw people giving their full dedication to work around the clock for the good of the Motherland."

In January, gun-maker Kalashnikov reported that production rose by 40% last year because Russia's army kept buying weapons for its troops in Ukraine.

However, Russia is making limited progress on the frontlines in Ukraine. Earlier in February, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Russia had deployed 97% of its entire army in Ukraine but was still struggling to make any major advances.

Russia's military campaign has been marked by major blunders. Last October, Insider reported that Russia had become Ukraine's biggest supplier of weapons after Ukrainian advances yielded a massive haul of abandoned Russian military kit.