Ukraine asks allies to earmark 0.25% of GDP for joint defense production, Zelensky says
on Google
Ukraine is asking partner countries to allocate 0.25% of their GDP to boosting Kyiv's defense production, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 20 at a press briefing attended by the Kyiv Independent.
The president's comments come less than a week before the NATO summit in The Hague, where Zelensky will have another opportunity to discuss Ukraine's security needs with world leaders.
"Ukraine is part of Europe's security, and we want 0.25% of the GDP of a particular partner country to be allocated to our defense industry and domestic production," Zelensky said at the briefing.
Ukraine is currently in talks with Denmark, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Lithuania on weapons development partnerships, Zelensky said.
The proposed spending target comes as Ukraine faces intensified aerial bombardments, dwindling U.S. support, and new Russian offensives. Moscow has doubled down on its maximalist ambitions in Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin insisting "all of Ukraine is ours" in remarks on June 20.
At the same time, Ukraine has demonstrated its ability to strike back at the aggressor state using its own domestically produced weapons. Operation Spiderweb, a mass attack on four key military airfields in Russia, was carried out entirely with Ukrainian drones.
Ukraine has been ramping up its defense production since the full-scale invasion in 2022. Support from Western allies has been critical to that effort, as Kyiv's defense budget does not match the capacities of domestic weapons production.
Denmark pioneered a new model of defense support when it became the first country to offer donate arms to Ukraine via direct purchases from the Ukrainian defense industry. Zelensky has said he wants other NATO members to purchase weapons from Ukraine under the Danish model.
Increased defense spending is the main item on the agenda at the upcoming NATO summit. The United States has backed a proposal to raise the spending target from the current 2% to 5% GDP.
While thus far only Spain has rejected the proposal outright, most NATO members have remained noncommittal. Poland, the Netherlands, and Sweden have expressed willingness to consider the 5% target.
