During a visit to Berlin, Volodymyr Zelensky stated that this agreement could be “one of the biggest agreements of its kind in Europe,” even if its exact details have not been specified.
Germany and Ukraine agreed on cooperation projects in the defense sector, including an agreement on drone production, which, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, could become one of the largest of its kind in Europe. The agreements, signed during a visit to Berlin by Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, highlight the rise of the Ukrainian defense industry after more than four years of conflict marked by rapid innovation in drone technologies.
“Aucune industrie de défense n’est devenue plus innovante que celle de l’Ukraine,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared at a press conference in Berlin.
“Thanks to our support, we are strengthening both German and European defense capabilities as well as our industrial base.”
Berlin, “a major partner” of Kiev
Germany is the main European supplier of military aid to Kiev. It has provided the country with around 55 billion euros since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has allocated 11.5 billion euros in the current budget. Much of this support has been used to finance purchases of American weapons. On Tuesday, the German Ministry of Defense announced that it would finance the acquisition of hundreds of Patriot air defense missiles from the American group Raytheon, as well as launchers for the IRIS-T air defense systems from the German manufacturer Diehl Defence.
Volodymyr Zelensky clarified that teams from both countries were still working on the scope and terms of the drone agreement, which builds on existing cooperation between German and Ukrainian companies. “Germany is a major partner for us, so I am confident that we will have one of the largest, if not the largest, agreements of this kind in Europe,” he said.
The German Ministry of Defense stated that the project would lead to the creation of a joint venture aimed at supplying thousands of drones to the Ukrainian army. Berlin also agreed to invest several hundred million euros to finance so-called deep strike capabilities. US efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict have been at a standstill since the start of the war with Iran, but Friedrich Merz deemed Europe’s involvement in any agreement with Moscow “essential.”
On the ground, fighting continues. A Russian missile strike killed at least five civilians on Tuesday in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro and injured more than two dozen people, according to several Ukrainian officials. Additionally, Russian drones attacked the port of Izmail in the southern region of Odessa overnight, hitting two foreign-flagged civilian ships, as reported by Ukrainian officials.
