“A new approach. The European Union is betting on the development of the defense-industrial complex of Ukraine — WP October 14, 08:12 Share: Bohdana self-propelled guns (Photo: Ukrainian armored vehicles / Facebook) The European Union is moving to invest in the defense-industrial complex of Ukraine, as it cannot produce everything it needs weapons, according to The Washington Post. It is noted that the recent decision of the EU to allocate $440 million to support the defense industry of Ukraine “marks”, — write on: ua.news
Bohdana self-propelled guns (Photo: Ukrainian armored vehicles / Facebook)
The European Union is moving to invest in Ukraine’s defense-industrial complex because it cannot produce all the necessary weapons for it, according to The Washington Post.
It is noted that the EU’s recent decision to allocate $440 million to support Ukraine’s defense industry “marks a significant shift” in the bloc’s approach to Russian aggression. At the same time, it highlights the shortcomings of the EU defense sector in the production of weapons and ammunition.
While Europe and the United States send billions of dollars worth of weapons to help Ukraine fight a much larger Russia, their national defense industries, long geared toward an international arena with fewer wars, are struggling to keep up with Ukrainian demand, the journalists noted. .
“I think there is an awareness that Europe is not capable of producing the weapons that Ukraine needs, and the easiest way for Ukrainians is to do it themselves. If Ukrainians have resources and money, they can do it much faster,” said an unnamed European diplomat.
The head of the Brussels branch of the German Marshall Fund, Jan Lesser, believes that investments in the Ukrainian arms sector “ensure greater flexibility”, as well as “provide Ukraine with more opportunities in the short term.”
In addition, according to him, investments will relieve some pressure on defense production in Western countries. However, Lesser added that none of this will replace the large-scale supply of Western-made weapons to Ukraine.
An anonymous European official said that the financing of Ukraine is “a turning point, not in terms of the amount of funds, but in terms of the idea of investing public money in the Ukrainian defense industry.” According to him, the money will be used for the production of missiles, drones and other long-range weapons.
This year, the Ministry of Defense approved more than 600 samples of domestically produced weapons
He also emphasized that in the near future, the volume of funds coming to the Ukrainian defense industry may increase dramatically.
“There are a number of countries that, as far as I know, are close to announcing the future use of the same mechanism, either investing themselves or asking Denmark to invest their money,” the unnamed official stressed.
WP writes that the Ukrainian arms sector is still far from competing with the products of Russia, one of the leading arms producers in the world.
The publication recalled that in June, the EU and Denmark agreed on a mechanism under which Denmark would dispose of $630 million in revenues from the frozen assets of the Russian Federation, according to the “Danish model.”
According to the agreement, Western money will be used to pay for contracts that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has already signed with weapons manufacturers, which will allow Ukrainians to determine their priorities in choosing what they need.
Dennis Virkelist, who heads the Ukrainian team at the Danish Ministry of Defense, said that there would be no “red lines” that would limit the use of weapons.
“Denmark and the European Union will be able to show the rest of the world how efficiently we are spending Russian surplus profits on weapons that are going back deep into Russia,” Virkelist added.