Ukraine’s defense industry can produce up to twenty million drones a year and thousands of missiles if sufficient financing is available, Deputy Defense Minister Mstyslav Banik said during the Spring Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
The message to partners is direct: Ukraine needs investment in domestic production, not only transfers from existing stockpiles. According to Banik, available capacities could be fully engaged within several months if funding is provided.
Production that can reach the front
The Defense Ministry emphasizes that priority should go to weapons and equipment that can be delivered to the front already this year. The list of urgent needs includes air defense, missiles for Patriot systems, long-range artillery ammunition and other critical capabilities through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List.
Ukraine is offering partners more than manufacturing space. It brings battlefield experience, technology, operational data and proof that defense production can be scaled during a full-scale war. That combination is increasingly valuable for NATO countries that are also reassessing their own industrial readiness.
The industrial logic is clear: financing Ukrainian production can shorten delivery chains, adapt systems to real battlefield conditions and create capacity that serves both Ukraine’s immediate defense and Europe’s longer-term security needs.
