Ukraine’s market and businesses ready to produce over 1 million drones – PM

The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has aimed to produce 1 million drones domestically. Currently, the country's businesses and markets are prepared to produce over a million.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said this at the annual press conference on the results of the government's four years of work, according to Ukrinform.

"In 2024, we took significant steps to strengthen our weapons production. The President set a goal of 1 million drones. We understand that businesses and the market in Ukraine are already ready to produce more than a million drones. We will, of course, buy everything our businesses can do to transfer it to our Defense Forces. The allocated additional funds are budgetary. We have allocated about 40 billion UAH for the organization of production, more than 40 billion have been allocated for the purchase of drones, and we will continue to allocate these funds," Shmyhal noted.

According to him, the government is currently allocating quite a lot of funds for the purchase of weapons from Ukrainian manufacturers.

"The task is to use 50% of the funds allocated for the purchase of weapons and military equipment for purchases from Ukrainian manufacturers," the prime minister emphasized.

He noted that the sphere of production of weapons and military equipment and the sphere of security are key sectors that will give us a powerful impact on GDP and the stability and independence that our partners expect from us.

In addition, attention will be paid to the production and purchase of EWs because, according to Shmyhal, they are becoming one of the key elements of protecting our airspace and our cities.

For reference:

On December 19, during a press conference, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that one million drones would be produced in Ukraine next year.

In addition to 1 million FPV drones, in 2024, more than 10,000 medium-range attack drones and more than 1,000 drones with a range of 1,000 km will be produced.

The Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, reported that the Ukrainian drone manufacturing market is actively growing, with over 100 companies currently producing drones in the country.

Earlier, the head of Ukraine's Security Service announced that a unique marine surface drone, "Sea Baby," was produced in Ukraine. These drones are made in Ukraine, but the factories are situated underground.

The State Special Forces recently reported that they had ordered hundreds of domestically produced drones from Ukroboronprom. They will be ready by the end of the year.

In addition, according to the Minister of Strategic Industries, Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine has established serial production of the domestic analog of Shakhed UAVs. Dozens of such drones can be produced in a month.

Furthermore, engineers from Kryvyi Rih have initiated the mass production of domestic Cobra aircraft-style strike UAVs with a flight range of up to 300 km.

It's worth mentioning that the construction of the Bayraktar drone production plant is currently underway in Ukraine. The plan is to produce over 100 drones per year.