Europe can’t make Ukraine enough weapons—So it’s paying Kyiv to do it
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. KYIV, Ukraine—Ukraine’s European allies, struggling to produce enough weapons for Kyiv’s war effort, are pioneering a new method: Giving Ukrainians money to do it themselves. In the new approach, Europeans are financing Ukrainian government contracts with cash-strapped Ukrainian arms makers to produce equipment for the country’s armed forces, including long-range missiles and drones that can strike Russian territory.
Kyiv tells its allies which companies to work with and armaments to buy, and the Europeans vet the producers independently before agreeing to deals. Ukraine will still rely on Western allies for advanced weapons such as Patriot surface-to-air interceptor missiles. But officials say the new approach will allow Kyiv to acquire weapons faster and in greater number than waiting for European arms to be produced.
Ukraine can do this because its arms industry is operating far below its production capacity—30% of its potential, by some estimates—because of insufficient funding. Proponents of the approach say Ukrainian defense firms are able to churn out many systems faster and less expensively than Western suppliers can. Ukrainian firms also tailor equipment more specifically to the country’s ever-changing front-line needs, while bolstering its defense industry for the future.
Dubbed the “Danish Model" after Copenhagen developed the approach with Ukraine earlier this year, the system is drawing growing participation and interest from other countries. Norway, Sweden and Lithuania have provided money, and other nations have expressed interest, according to Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen. Germany has already applied a similar approach and the Netherlands, in parallel, is
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