Serhiy Boyev, Deputy Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine and Rustem Umerov, Minister of Defence of Ukraine together with Kajsa Ollongren, Minister of Defence of the Netherlands signed a Declaration of Intent that sets out the intentions of Ukraine and the Netherlands to create an effective mechanism for financial support of Ukrainian arms manufacturers.

The signing of the Declaration is aimed at strengthening the productive capacities of the Ukrainian defence industry and ensuring the supply of the most effective weapons to the Security and Defence Forces of Ukraine with the support of the Netherlands.

The signing of this act was preceded by a visit to Ukraine last week by the Dutch Minister of Defence Kajsa Ollongren, who announced the allocation of €60 million for drones for Ukraine. In particular, this includes 20 million euros for the purchase of FPV drones as part of an international drone coalition, 22.5 million euros for the purchase of drones manufactured by the Dutch defence industry, and 17.5 million euros for the purchase of Ukrainian-made maritime drones.

"Drones have become a game changer in this war. Therefore, for us it is important to attract resources for the manufacture and supply of them to the Ukrainian army as many as possible. Ukraine's defence industry has significant potential that exceed the procurement capacity of the state budget. That is why the support of our partners in the form of additional contracts is so important for us. We are grateful to the Kingdom of the Netherlands for providing this support," said Serhiy Boyev, Deputy Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine.

We would like to emphasise that the allocation of funds by the Netherlands for the purchase of Ukrainian drones is a significant contribution to the ZBROYARI: Manufacturing Freedom initiative. This is a global fundraising campaign, a strategic collection among partner countries. Its goal is to raise $10 billion for the production of Ukrainian weapons in 2024. Ukraine has already received three donors as part of the project: in addition to the Netherlands, Denmark has allocated $28.5 million and Canada has allocated $2.1 million.

We expect similar decisions from other partners. For example, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the United States would provide Ukraine with a $2 billion aid package. These funds should be used, among other things, to invest in Ukraine's defence industry.

EU High Representative Josep Borrell at the Defence Industry Forum DFNC1: US Edition, held in Brussels, called on EU countries to purchase weapons for Ukraine from Ukrainian defence companies in order to transfer them to the Security and Defence Forces as soon as possible.