Ukraine is utilizing only half of its defense production capacity, says Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the country’s domestic arms production capacity is twice the volume currently utilized by the state.
He made this statement during a conversation with journalists in Berlin alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“Most of the weapons Ukraine uses today for various types of operations—long-range, on the battlefield, air defense, and so on—are manufactured in Ukraine. And this is where our drone deals with various countries come from,” the head of state noted.
According to the President, the potential of Ukraine’s defense sector is significantly greater than its current level of utilization. “The scope of capabilities is twice as large as what we are using today. Our domestic production is twice as much,” he emphasized.
At the same time, the key problem remains a funding shortfall. “We simply don’t have enough money, but we’ve already discussed this in part today, and we expect that Germany, as one of the leaders of the European Union, will help us quickly unlock 90 billion,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.
The President added that support from partners will allow Ukraine to increase investment in its own weapons production and expand its capacity.
Special attention was paid to the development of air defense. Zelenskyy stressed the need to create systems to counter ballistic threats. “I am 100% confident that Europe and Ukraine will produce anti-ballistic systems. It’s a matter of time. But until we have this, until there is a shortage of such systems, we must protect our families and our people. And for this, we need the PURL program,” he concluded.
Earlier, the commander of the unmanned systems regiment stated that the modern battlefield is already impossible without ground-based robotic systems (GRS). According to him, their development is proceeding at a very rapid pace.
Ukraine cannot keep up with the growing demand for strike drones due to a shortage of engines. The production program for Ukrainian long-range drones is limited by a shortage of mini-jet engines, which are critical for long-range strikes.
