Ukraine's defense-industrial complex is currently operating at 60% capacity, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a briefing today. According to him, the remaining 40% is inactive due to a lack of financing.
“This doesn’t mean it used to be 100% — it used to be just 10%,” he explained. “Today, we’ve expanded significantly. And it would greatly boost Ukraine’s defense capability if we could find additional funding to unlock 100% of our production potential.”
Answering a question about whether European aid is sufficient, Zelensky said Ukraine is working to address the artillery shortage and has already started domestic production. He again stressed the crucial role of drones in the war against Russia.
“The second big story is drones. That’s where more support is possible. Europeans could channel more funding directly into our private sector. That would be a huge help — and has already helped us,” the president said. “They’ve become an alternative to the shortage of artillery shells. We had a large-scale drone production effort. I said we’d make 1–1.5 million drones, but we ended up producing several million. Our results are serious — double what we promised.”
Zelensky also stated that the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and intelligence agencies have confirmed that China is supplying weapons to the Russian Federation.
“I believe we’ll be able to speak in much more detail about this next week,” he added, “especially regarding evidence suggesting that Chinese representatives are involved in weapons production on Russian territory.”
