President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that he wants to turn Ukraine’s defense industry into a “major military center” by partnering with Western arms manufacturers to increase arms supplies for Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Russia, Reuters writes. In addition, French and German defense companies are creating local workshops in Ukraine for the maintenance of weapons – this is the first step towards the production of weapons in this country, according to Politico.eu.

Zelenskyi was speaking at a forum his government has convened with international manufacturers to discuss how to jointly develop the industrial capacity to build and repair weapons in Ukraine, despite ongoing Russian bombing.

“Ukraine is at such a stage of the defense marathon, when it is very important to move forward without retreating. Results from the frontline are needed every day,” Zelenskyy told executives representing more than 250 Western arms manufacturers.

“We are interested in localizing the production of equipment necessary for our defense, and each of those advanced defense systems used by our soldiers has given Ukraine the best results on today’s front,” he said at the Kyiv forum.

Companies from France, Germany and Great Britain are paving the way to the creation of a military center in Ukraine

Some leading Western manufacturers, such as the German giant Rheinmetall and the British BAE Systems, have already announced plans to merge with Ukrainian manufacturers.

• Ukraine and Rheinmetall applauded the tank factory. Ukraine will manufacture tanks using German technology

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that Ukrainian manufacturers signed about 20 agreements with foreign partners on joint production, exchange of technologies or supply of components for the production of drones, armored vehicles and ammunition, but did not name these companies.

This week, Germany’s Federal Anti-Cartel Office gave the green light to a proposed joint venture between Rheinmetall, a German arms maker, and Ukrainian Defense Industry, a Ukrainian state defense group.

This week, French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu visited Kyiv with about 20 French defense contractors, including Thales, MBDA, Nexter and Arquus, to promote partnerships with Ukrainian officials.

According to a government report, in 2022 France supplied Ukraine with arms worth 640.5 million euros, rocket launchers and portable anti-tank missile launchers, 562 12.7 mm machine guns and 60 armored fighting vehicles.

“We cannot continue to take resources away from our armed forces indefinitely, otherwise we will harm our own defense capabilities and the level of training of our troops,” Lecornu told French television.

In Kyiv this week, French arms manufacturers signed contracts with Ukraine for artillery, armored vehicles, drones and mine clearance equipment, including cooperation in the war-torn country.

As reported by Le Figaro, the French firm Arquus signed a letter of intent on Thursday to provide ground maintenance for armored personnel carriers and may establish a production facility in the future. Nexter CEO Nicolas Chamoussi, maker of the Caesar self-propelled howitzer, also told the French agency that it is looking for a local partner to create a joint venture to service the weapon.

French startup Vistory will build two 3D printing factories for the production of spare parts, reports La Croix.

In August, Kyiv and Stockholm signed a protocol of intent to deepen cooperation “in production, operation, training and maintenance” of the Combat Vehicle 90 (CV90) platform, manufactured by the Swedish branch of BAE Systems. A few days later, BAE Systems announced the creation of a local facility to increase production of 105 mm howitzers.

The nearest armed priorities of Ukraine

Zelensky called his priority tasks air defense and demining. Ukraine also seeks to increase its own production of missiles, drones and artillery ammunition.

Kyiv launched a counteroffensive in early June to try to retake territory occupied by Russia, which still controls about 18 percent of Ukraine. Kyiv reported progress on several fronts and liberated more than 10 villages, but still failed to recapture any major cities.

Ukraine is critically dependent on financial and military support from the West and has pledged tens of billions of dollars in aid since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. But the war created an ever-increasing demand for arms and ammunition.

Heads of arms manufacturers from more than 30 countries took part in the forum. Some said they were quickly running out of stock and struggling to find supplies to ramp up production to meet demand in Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials see the development of domestic defense production as a boost for the economy, which shrank by about a third last year due to the war.