Ukraine and the US to collaborate on arms production

Ukraine and the US have agreed to launch joint weapons production in a step that would enable Kyiv to start producing air defense systems, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said yesterday as he departed the US for Canada.

In his daily address to Ukrainians, Zelenskiy said the long-term agreement would create jobs and a new industrial base in Ukraine, whose economy has been devastated by the war with Russia.

“It was a very important visit to Washington, very important results,” Zelenskiy said in a video posted on the presidential Web site. “And a long-term agreement — we will work together so that Ukraine produces the necessary weapons together with the United States. Coproduction in the defense [sector] with the United States is a historic thing.”

Kyiv has stepped up efforts to boost domestic weapons production as much as possible because 19 months of war has created a huge demand for arms and ammunition to fend off Russian attacks along a 1,000km front line.

Zelenskiy said that the Ukrainian Ministry for Strategic Industries, which oversees weapons production in the nation, had signed cooperation agreements with three associations, uniting more than 2,000 US defense companies, on possible work in Ukraine.

“We are preparing to create a new defense ecosystem with the United States to produce weapons to strengthen further freedom and protect life together,” he said.

Zelenskiy in Washington on Thursday worked to shore up US support for Ukraine, delivering an upbeat message on the war’s progress while facing new questions about the flow of US dollars to his nation.

The Ukrainians have a solid war plan, and “they are winning,” US lawmakers quoted him as saying.

US President Joe Biden gave Zelenskiy a red-carpet arrival on the White House South lawn, but some lawmakers voted against Biden’s request to the US Congress for an additional US$24 billion for Ukraine’s military.

US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said that she voted against a defense bill — even as a legislative deadlock threatens a US government shutdown — because the leadership of her Republican party has refused to separate out funding for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in Crimea, Russia said that Ukraine carried out a missile strike yesterday on the main headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet.