Ukraine to unveil weapons export details in coming days, defense minister says

Ukraine is set to announce details on the opening of weapons exports in the coming days, the country’s defense minister said at an event in Kyiv on June 30, a move that defense companies have argued would help keep them afloat and help the industry grow long term.

"Exports will be opened very soon. In fact, you probably can’t imagine just how soon," Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said, adding that the details would be announced in the "coming days."

While a wealth of innovative mil-tech companies have cropped up since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the Ukrainian government has so far restricted them from exporting abroad. But Ukrainian defense firms now produce more than the state can afford to buy, prompting calls among companies to open up exports to allow firms to stay financially afloat while also expanding.

"All the requirements for opening exports have now been finalized. The entire process will be as digitalized and as streamlined as possible, and I hope you’ll enjoy selling your products to our partners," he told attendees at the Brave 1 Advantage event in Kyiv, which was packed with representatives from Ukraine's burgeoning mil-tech scene.

The organizers asked members of the press to withhold reporting until the evening of July 1, for security reasons.

"In the coming days, we will announce all the details, and the necessary legal and regulatory act will be adopted to make it operational," he said.

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky previously teased exports in February 2026, and the war in the middle east injected fresh energy into the debate, Fedorov’s comments are the most concrete indication yet that exports will soon be liberalized.

Fedorov noted that while Ukraine has "already adopted more than 50 legal and regulatory acts related to defense technology during the war," that the government had been working on "this particular act for many months — indeed, for more than a year."

"It will be introduced very soon, and I hope it will make Ukraine a global player by allowing us to open exports, share our technologies, and help strengthen the democracies of our partners who are supporting us today," he said.

The Kyiv School of Economics estimates that the high-tech segment of Ukraine’s defense sector reached $6.8 billion in 2025, though it says the true figure is likely higher

The CEO of FirePoint, a major producer of drones and Ukraine’s flagship Flamingo cruise missile, said in May that the company had a valuation of $6 billion — a sign of the extraordinary growth of Ukrainian defense firms since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

It is unclear how wide-ranging the changes to export controls will be. Ukraine, and particularly President Zelensky, have been reluctant to ease restrictions for fear that doing so could cause the outflow of weapons needed to fight the war.