Ukraine is set to create three new joint ventures with European arms manufacturers as part of its efforts to increase arms production during the war with Russia, the first deputy prime minister said.
Yulia Svyrydenko, who is also economy minister, said five joint ventures with Western arms makers had already been established, including with German and Lithuanian companies. Several arms producers have opened offices in Ukraine.
“We have concluded three more agreements with European companies, which are at the final stage, for the creation of joint ventures,” Svyrydenko said in an interview at the government headquarters in central kyiv. She did not give details of the planned new businesses or the scale of the investments.
Ukraine’s military industrial production has exploded, with state and private companies rapidly increasing production and innovating, as the government has scrambled to respond to Russia’s massive invasion in February 2022.
Officials remain tight-lipped on details of the defense industry, but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in October that Ukraine could produce four million drones a year and was stepping up military production, including missiles, a “drone missile” and transport vehicles.
To maintain momentum, the government has attracted foreign funds and technology to transform domestic arms production, increasing deliveries of munitions and equipment to the battlefield in the face of a better-equipped and larger enemy. .
German arms giant Rheinmetall has already launched its first defense plant in Ukraine, specializing in the maintenance of combat vehicles, and plans to start manufacturing Lynx infantry fighting vehicles by the end of the year.
British company BAE Systems, Franco-German company KDNS, defense and aerospace company Babcock and MyDefence, which specializes in anti-drone technology, have teamed up with Ukrainian producers and opened local offices.
German arms producer Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft is building a service center in Ukraine jointly with a private Ukrainian arms producer, Mr. Svyrydenko said.
The expansion of domestic defense production has given a boost to the economy as a whole, which remains smaller than before the war despite two years of economic growth, she added.
The arms production sector accounted for 1.8% of the country’s gross domestic product in the first half of 2024, compared to just 0.3% in 2021.
