Ukrainian weapons account for more than 40% of arms used in defense against Russia, Zelensky says
Ukraine provides over 40% of the weapons used to defend the nation’s independence against Russia’s full-scale invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the State and Business Forum in Kyiv on June 27.
As Ukraine scales up domestic defense production, Zelensky has been lobbying foreign partners to provide funding to help match its manufacturing capacity.
The government and Ukrainian businesses now provide more than 40% of the weapons the country uses in its fight against Russia, Zelensky said. Business-driven innovations in technology have helped Ukraine on the battlefield, particularly in drone development.
“Thanks to Ukrainian entrepreneurship and all the conditions we have created as a state, a new sector of our domestic manufacturing has emerged and immediately become one of the world’s most advanced — the production of drones of various types,” Zelensky said.
“Hundreds of companies are now involved in weapons production in one way or another.”
Zelensky’s comments come a day after Defense Minister Rustem Umerov reported that Ukrainian companies have increased their industrial capacity in order to produce four million drones a year.
At the NATO summit in The Hague on June 24, Zelensky said Ukraine could potentially produce as many as eight million drones per year, but lacks the financial backing to achieve its full capacity. During the summit, Ukraine signed agreements on joint weapons production with the U.K. and Denmark in an effort to bridge the gap between Kyiv’s capacity and current funds.
Ukraine has rapidly developed its drone capabilities since 2022, evolving from modifying commercial aircraft to producing military UAVs, attack drones, and reconnaissance systems at scale.
Operation Spiderweb, a mass attack on four key military airfields in Russia, was carried out entirely with Ukrainian drones.
The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk