Ukraine has established five joint ventures with Western arms manufacturers

13 November, 2024 Hulls of 155mm artillery rounds at the enterprise of the company ZVS Holding in the city of Snina, Slovakia. Photo credits: TASR Ukraine is close to establishing three new joint ventures with European weapons producers.

Yulia Svyrydenko, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, reported this in an interview with Reuters. Svyrydenko, the Economy Minister, shared that five joint ventures with Western weapon producers had already been set up, including with German and Lithuanian companies. Several arms producers have opened offices in Ukraine.

Bohdana ACS.

November 2024. Photo credits: 44th Separate Artillery Brigade

"We have three more agreements with European companies in the final stages to establish joint ventures," Svyrydenko said. She gave no details about the planned new ventures or the scale of the investments.

Svyrydenko noted that the weapons production sector accounted for 1.8% of the country's gross domestic product in the first half of 2024, compared with just 0.3% in 2021.

Ukrainian defense industry

Militarnyi previously reported that the draft State Budget for 2025, which the Government has prepared for the second reading, allocates over 55 billion for producing weapons and military equipment. These funds will be used to develop production and design and implement new technologies. It will also be used to increase production capacity for defense products.

BTR-4E in service with the 56th Motorized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, June 2024. Photo credits: 56th Motorized Brigade

In addition, UAH 500 million is planned to be allocated for a program of affordable loans for Ukrainian defense companies. This program was created this year, allowing producers to take out loans at 5% annually.

The state budget will cover the rest of the interest.

The government expects that domestic enterprises will be able to produce more weapons and deliver them to the Defense Forces faster.