On Monday 6 May, at the EU-Ukraine Defence Industries Forum in Brussels, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, the European Commissioner for Defence Industry, Thierry Breton, and the Ukrainian Ministers for Strategic Industries, Oleksandr Kamyshin, and for Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, called for closer ties between their defence industries.
According to a press release from the European External Action Service, the Forum, which brought together 140 companies from 25 countries, “opens the way to identify concrete cooperation initiatives, arrangements and flagship projects between the EU and Ukraine defence industries, through e.g., joint ventures”. “This will promote closer cooperation between defence companies and the progressive integration of the Ukrainian industry in the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB), also in view of Ukraine’s accession process to the EU”, the EEAS stressed.
In a video message broadcast at the opening of the forum, Mr Kuleba said that “the expansion of defence industrial capabilities in Ukraine and the EU is a political issue that requires a political impetus”. In his view, his country is a European power in the defence industry. “We have real experience, real technological ingenuity developed by our people, and rapidly expanding capabilities”, he explained.
Mr Breton believes that “we need to identify the areas where cooperation is most urgently needed and, to do this, we need to know directly where the critical needs are. This will help chart the way forward for developing cooperation between our industries in a highly targeted way”.
"The European defence industry has a lot to offer, but it also has a lot to learn from Ukraine. We need to structurally strengthen our defence industrial capabilities. This is the key to a long war of attrition such as this one”, said Mr Borrell. In his view, the aim is to make Ukraine capable of resisting invasion by strengthening its industrial capacity, using what it already has, expanding it, financing it and buying up its production. “Technology on the one hand, and financial capacity on the other, must be brought together so that the Ukrainians have the military capacity to resist”, he explained.
Financial support for Ukrainian industry
Money remains the lifeblood of war, and Mr Kamyshin and Mr Kuleba called for financial support for Ukrainian industry.
“Investing in Ukraine’s defence companies is an excellent way of supplying Ukraine with more weapons”, said the Foreign Minister, explaining that his country’s production capacity far exceeded its financial resources. “Every euro invested in Ukraine’s capacity to produce more weapons generates lucrative returns both in security terms and financially, for our European partners”, he argued.
He pointed out that last year production of weapons and military equipment had tripled, and that this year contracts had already doubled compared to last year. Minister Kamyshin called on the EU to allow even more to be done. “The gap between the capacity of the defence industries and the funds available for arms purchases amounts to $10 billion this year alone. We invite our partners to help bridge this gap through direct contracts with Ukrainian companies”, he appealed.
Mr Borrell also returned to the subject of financing Ukrainian industry. According to him, the new €5 billion aid fund for Ukraine and – once an agreement has been reached between the Member States – the revenues from Russian immobilised assets will be channelled into the Ukrainian defence industry. “That is my firm intention. This money must be channelled to Ukraine to enable Ukrainians to produce for themselves, on their own territory, as close as possible to their needs”, he explained, adding that this would save on transport costs and avoid delays.
Denmark has already undertaken to purchase equipment from Ukrainian companies for shipment to the Ukrainian army. “The purchase of equipment from Ukrainian companies or European and Ukrainian joint ventures established in Ukraine is an option that we will explore with the Member States”, promised Mr Borrell. “If the Ukrainian defence industry can quickly produce the military equipment Ukraine needs, I say buy it. Let’s help them to produce it at home. And let’s give ourselves the financial capacity to buy this production”, he added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)