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Estonian Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur has urged Western countries to invest in Ukraine’s defense industry.
He made the remarks in an interview with The Hill on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum, Ukrinform reports.
Pevkur called for renewed efforts to fund Ukraine’s military production investments, noting that Ukrainians produce six to seven times more howitzers annually than, for example, France.
According to him, Ukrainian industry has the capacity to produce about $30 billion worth of military equipment in a year, but it only has $15 billion to spend.
“Their industry is really ramping up production… That means there’s twice as much capacity in Ukrainian industry. So when you don’t have anything to give from your own stockpiles, give them money, it’s a simple message,” the Estonian minister said.
Pevkur also stated that Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August was a missed opportunity to surge support for Kyiv.
“There was a huge momentum in this war during the Kursk counteroffensive, but that time, Ukrainians didn’t have enough equipment or enough firepower to push even further. I believe this was a missed opportunity for Ukrainians, together with the West. … We have to decide collectively, that are we helping Ukraine to fight or to win? So if you want to help them to win you have to make this extra step,” the Estonian minister atressed.
As reported earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during the presentation of Ukraine’s Internal Resilience Plan in the Verkhovna Rada, announced preparations for a robust financial foundation to develop the domestic defense industry.
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