Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with Armin Papperger, CEO of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, in Berlin on Nov. 3, discussing ways to strengthen the alliance of German and Ukrainian defense industries.
"Ukraine will have more weapons and ammunition to defend itself, protect civilians and infrastructure from Russian attacks," Kuleba said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Kuleba didn't provide further details on the talk, while Rheinmetall hasn't yet reported it.
The meeting comes less than two weeks after it was announced Rheinmetall would join forces with Ukraine's state-owned defense company Ukroboronprom to repair and maintain Western-produced military vehicles and ultimately produce them domestically in Ukraine.
Igor Kossov
The joint venture would focus on the maintenance and repair of vehicles transferred to Ukraine as part of Germany's multilateral "Ringtausch" equipment exchange program.
Under this scheme, European allies are providing Ukraine with older Soviet equipment in exchange for German armaments.
As the next step, Rheinmetall wants to manufacture select products in Ukraine and even develop military systems by joint German-Ukrainian specialist teams further in the future.
Francis Farrell
