European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Kyiv yesterday, where she and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy launched a new EU–Ukraine Defence Industrial Partnership and signed a letter of intent marking the first step towards a broader Drone Deal between Ukraine and the European Union.
The partnership aims to import and integrate Ukraine’s battlefield-tested expertise in drones and counter-drone systems with the European Union’s technology and defence industry, and be able to produce drones “at speed and scale” according to the EU Commission President. Ukrainian specialists will contribute their knowledge of drone design, production, supply chains, radar systems, sensors and ground-control stations, while European manufacturers will help produce Ukrainian-designed systems more rapidly and on a much larger scale.
President Von der Leyen said that Europe possesses considerable technological and industrial capacity but lacks the practical combat experience Ukraine has acquired during more than four years of resistance to Russia’s full-scale invasion. The agreement is intended to bring these strengths together through joint development and production, while allowing both the Ukrainian and European defence industries to expand their capabilities.
The European Commission also announced the disbursement of a further €1 billion to support Ukraine’s drone capabilities. This follows the €3.9 billion released on 30 June as the first payment from a tranche of approximately €6 billion earmarked for drone procurement under the EU’s €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan.
The wider loan provides €60 billion for Ukrainian defence expenditure during 2026 and 2027, alongside €30 billion in budgetary assistance. Of the defence component, up to €28.3 billion is expected to be disbursed in 2026 to strengthen Ukraine’s defence-industrial capacity. Future payments are also expected to cover ammunition, missiles and air-defence systems.
President Von der Leyen described Ukraine as a net security provider for Europe, arguing that its defence industry has demonstrated an exceptional ability to move innovations from the battlefield into mass production. President Zelenskyy described the letter of intent as a historic step towards integrating Ukrainian defence production with Europe’s wider industrial base.
European and Ukrainian defence industries will become increasingly integrated through joint production, investment, research and procurement, strengthening Ukraine’s immediate military capacity while helping Europe build the capabilities it may require to confront future security threats.
You can watch the press conference in full here. You can find the press release here.
Newsroom
Leave a Reply