A looming dropoff in U.S. weapons deliveries is threatening to strain Ukraine’s budding domestic arms production to the breaking point. As U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration prepares negotiations with their Russian counterparts, Ukrainians fear being cut out of negotiations — and cut off from future U.S.
"Everything I'm seeing at this moment is not nearly enough, and if we don't do it (raise the spending targets) we are safe now but not in four or five years. So if you don't do it, get out your Russian language courses or go to New Zealand," NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Jan. 7 that NATO should raise its defense spending benchmark from 2% of GDP to 5%, echoing his earlier calls for Europe to spend more on its security.
"In a month and a half, we created a project from scratch and made a shield from Metinvest's Ukrainian armor steel for the Patriot air defense system crew, which guarantees protection against debris damage to both the defenders and the air defense control center," said Oleksandr Myronenko, a COO of Metinvest Group.
Norway will continue training Ukrainian F-16 pilots as part of its support for Ukraine’s defense and will relocate its training base from Denmark to Portugal, Norwegian Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram announced in a Dec. 13 press release.
European NATO foreign ministers began discussing a plan to gradually increase the alliance’s defense spending target from 2% of their GDP to 3% by 2030, the Financial Times reported on Dec. 12, citing undisclosed sources.
For the next year, Ukraine allocated 26.3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) to defense and security expenditures, including Hr 740 billion ($17.7 billion) for arms purchases and Hr 50 billion ($1.2 billion) on the production and purchase of drones.
With Donald Trump back in office, Europe faces a new era of uncertainty. The once-reliable comfort of American support — a cornerstone of European security — is now more in question than ever. For decades, Europe has assumed the U.S. would always be there to pick up the slack. But those
Before the U.S. presidential election, it seemed like no one but Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters believed he could win. After all, the man is a convicted felon, a putschist-provocateur, an agent of chaos, and a walking scandal who has been disowned by almost all his former advisors, some
President-elect Donald Trump has named Fox News host and veteran Pete Hegseth as the incoming U.S. Defense Secretary, Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Nov. 12. If confirmed by Congress, Hegseth will replace current Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin following Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025. "Pete
“The priority of next year's budget will also be security and defense. All taxes paid by people and businesses will go toward strengthening our defenders and military capabilities,” Prime Minister Denys Smyhal said on his Telegram channel.
Ukraine's Strategic Industries Minister Herman Smetanin met with India's Ambassador to Ukraine Ravi Shankar on Oct. 26 to discuss strengthening defense industry cooperation between Kyiv and New Delhi, the Strategic Industries Ministry announced.
The Kyiv Independent spoke with former U.K. Defense Attaché in Moscow, John Foreman CBE, about what this development might mean for the future of Russia's war and the global landscape.
"It (Black Sea Fleet) was forced to change, in fact, its registration because our large ships became large targets for the enemy's unmanned boats," Dmitry Rogozin, a Russian official heading the Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, said.
Biden was supposed to convene a leader-level meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany on Oct. 12, where President Volodymyr Zelensky was expected to present his victory plan. However, he put off his visit in order to oversee the emergency response to Hurricane Milton.
Editor’s Note: This is issue 150 of Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly, covering events from Sept. 29 – Oct. 5, 2024. The Kyiv Independent is reposting it with permission. Corporate governance of SOEs Cabinet completes the composition of UDI’s supervisory board. On Oct. 4, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed Timur
NATO has been advised to significantly bolster its defense capabilities, as outlined in a report by German media channel Welt.
Speaking at a panel discussion at the Warsaw Security Forum attended by the Kyiv Independent, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur explained that "everybody in the society will contribute a bit more."
Expenses for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the presidential administration will increase to 30.9 billion rubles ($332 million) in 2025. The bulk of the expenses — 21 billion rubles ($235 million) are earmarked for an increase in salaries for the president and his staff.
President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine's new military advancements, particularly the Palianytsia missile, are a critical way for the country to act amid delays in decision-making by some of its international partners.
Editor’s Note: This is issue 141 of Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly, covering events from July 14-20, 2024. The Kyiv Independent is reposting it with permission. Corporate governance of SOEs PrivatBank appoints a new CFO. On July 15, PrivatBank reported that Larysa Chernyshova will serve in this role starting Sept.
The agreed budget will see an increase in defense spending by 1.2 billion euros (nearly $1.4 billion), while German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius requested a 6.7 billion euros (nearly $7.3 billion) increase, according to Tagesspiegel.
The following is the July 16, 2024 edition of our Ukraine Business Roundup weekly newsletter. This version is condensed as the author was out of the office. To get the biggest news in business and tech from Ukraine directly in your inbox, subscribe here. With Ukraine desperately seeking cash to
"As threats to peace and security become increasingly complex, Canada and our government stand ready to step up," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
The following is the July 9, 2024 edition of our Ukraine Business Roundup weekly newsletter. This version is condensed as the author was out of the office. To get the biggest news in business and tech from Ukraine directly in your inbox, subscribe here. There’s an unpleasant fact about
"This is good for Europe and good for America, especially since much of this extra money is spent here in the United States," Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on June 17.
The following is the June 12, 2024 edition of our Ukraine Business Roundup weekly newsletter. To get the biggest news in business and tech from Ukraine directly in your inbox, subscribe here. Ukraine’s annual recovery conference happened this week in Berlin, but instead of talks of grand plans to
Ireland is not a member of NATO, and has one of the lowest rates of defense spending across the EU, at around .2% of its GDP.
"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is training his people for war and positioning them against the West. We must, therefore, become capable of defense as quickly as possible," Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a member of the co-ruling Free Democratic Party (FDP), said in a comment for the Funke media group published on June 1.
President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to address delegates at the event on June 1, according to the news agency's undisclosed sources.
The defense ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia met in the Lithuanian town of Palanga on May 22 and agreed on their key goals ahead of the upcoming NATO summit, including an allied commitment to invest at least 2.5% of GDP in defense.
It will take as long as two years for Sweden to reach the desired capacity to provide Ukraine with more ammunition and strengthen the Swedish Armed Forces, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson said in an interview with Bloomberg published on May 21.
