Nordic, Baltic, Polish Governments Agree to Support Ukraine's Defence Industry
The heads of government of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, Poland and Sweden have announced their intention to increase support for Ukraine and its defence industry and invest in ammunition supplies. This was stated in a joint statement on 27 November.
The officials stressed that Ukraine must be able to withstand Russian aggression to ensure peace.
‘In the coming months, we will step up our support, in particular for the Ukrainian defence industry, and invest in providing more ammunition for Ukraine,’ the statement said.
The countries called on other allies to continue to support Ukraine, including militarily.
The heads of government declared their support for Ukraine's Victory Plan and their commitment to ‘a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine and its full European and Euro-Atlantic integration’.
According to the statement, Russia remains the largest and most direct threat to the security of these countries in the long term.
‘We will work together to deter, deny and counter Russia's aggressive and confrontational actions, and to ensure that it is held fully internationally accountable for its crime of aggression,’ the joint statement said.
In the second year of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine's defence industry tripled to $3 billion. Ukraine's state budget covers less than a third of the capacity of Ukrainian producers - this year's budget provides only $6 billion out of the required $20 billion for arms purchases, Oleksandr Kamyshin, Minister of Strategic Industries, said on 13 April.
Ukrainian companies produce drones, artillery systems, armoured vehicles, and have almost mastered the production of NATO 155 mm artillery shells. In 2024, the Ukrainian defence industry could produce five times more. Read more about this here.
Next year, Ukraine will produce at least 30,000 long-range drones, and the goal is to produce 3,000 cruise missiles and drone missiles, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during the presentation of the Resilience Plan on 19 November.
More than 600 domestic companies operate in the defence industry, providing a total of 300,000 jobs, according to the president. He added that Ukraine has attracted more than 40 foreign defence companies to work in the country.