EU officials and experts discussed the pros and cons of boosting Ukraine’s arms production with proceeds from interest on Russian assets frozen by international sanctions.
Instead of sourcing weapons for Kyiv, the EU is now using proceeds from frozen Russian assets to help Kyiv manufacture the armaments for itself.
The move indicates a lack of production capacity within the EU. However, it would accelerate the process of arming Ukraine and avoid uncomfortable political discussions – such as the longstanding redlines against deep strikes inside Russia using Western weapons, EU officials and experts told the Washington Post.
The publication added that Ukraine has the capacity but lacks the funding to fully utilize its domestic arms production – a notion echoed by industry representatives in a recent Financial Times (FT) article on Ukraine’s potential drone exports.
“I think there’s a realization that Europe is not capable of producing the weapons that Ukraine needs, and the easiest way is for the Ukrainians to do it themselves.
Voice of Ukraine 