Ukraine is seeking additional financial resources from the European Union to support its own defense industry and expand its capacities that are not related to the conclusion of contracts, Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshyn announced.
“Our main goal is to find additional funds for purchases by Ukrainian arms manufacturers. We have identified several initiatives that can be implemented. We are efficient and able to produce enough, but we lack funding,” he said.
One initiative could be to expand the funds of the European Peace Fund to reimburse the costs of member states that purchase equipment directly in Ukraine and leave it on its territory.
“Secondly, we are considering the possibility of using windfall profits from frozen Russian assets, up to 3 billion euros, and including procurement in Ukraine in this program. As for Ukraine's defense industry, we have created an effective system, and the only thing we need now is financing,” Kamyshyn noted.
The third initiative will be the inclusion of purchases from Ukrainian manufacturers in the European Defense Industry Program (EDIP).
“We do not seek to compete, we simply do things that work efficiently and economically, and we will complement European industry. The joint potential will be sufficient to deter any aggressor,” Kamyshyn concluded.
Recall that earlier, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky noted that to ensure the country's security and the ability to give a decisive response to any aggression from Russia, it is necessary to strengthen the production of domestic weapons. In this direction, Ukraine has achieved significant success, including the development of long-range weapons and the start of serial production of drones. The volume of ammunition production has also increased significantly. To coordinate efforts in the field of the defense-industrial complex, the Cabinet of Ministers has created an Industrial and Defense Committee, which will involve weapons manufacturers, independent experts and specialists.
