President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Ukraine and the UK would start joint production of long-range drones in an attempt to deepen the defence cooperation between the two countries.
Zelenskiy made the remarks after the meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Stamer in Downing Street. Writing on social media, Zelenskiy said the objective was “to save as many lives as possible” amid Russia’s full-fledged invasion that started nearly four years aog and urged “maximum political and diplomatic coordination” and closer work on “joint defence projects and weapons production”.
Zelenskiy also addressed the issue on Tuesday during the NATO Summit held in Hague, Netherlands, where he said Kyiv was capable of producing 8 million drones per year, but lacked the necessary funding. "Our defense potential has surpassed 35 billion US dollars. This includes nearly 1,000 types of products from artillery and traditional armed vehicles to advanced drones of all types and missiles," the Ukrainian leader stated.
The agreement on joint drone production comes at a critical time as Kyiv relies on drones to counter Russia’s numerical advantage. Russia relies on North Korean drones as well as Iran’s Shaheed kamikaze drones in strikes against Ukraine. Drones have have transformed the battlefield as they provide critical surveillance, tactical operations and surveillance. Ukraine is the world’s leading drone producers. Earlier in June, Ukraine’s Security Service revealed that more than 40 warplanes were destroyed in Russian territory in “large-scale” drone attack against Russian military bombers. The operation codenamed Spiderweb, had been in preparation for more than 18 months and was carried out with the use of Ukrainian drones smuggled into Russian territory.
