Defense ministry established Office of coalition support
Source: Ukraine’s defense ministry
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has established the Coalition Support Office to ensure sustainable and systematic management of military assistance provided by partner countries.
The format of coalitions was created in 2023 for more effective assistance by partner countries within the framework of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine.
As of now, 8 coalitions have been created, among them there are the aviation coalition, the air defense, the artillery coalition, the drone coalition, and others.
The tasks of the Support Office are to ensure coordination and planning of work within the coalitions of capabilities, to ensure interaction between coalitions, and to analyze the state of communications with partner countries.
The office supports the work of a working group headed by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and working groups of representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In 2024, the format of aid to Ukraine will be modified into the so-called Ramstein 2.0. This means that from now on Ukraine’s allies will provide their support mainly not on an individual basis, but in a coalition format and in accordance with the needs.
In 2025, the deadliest year yet for civilians, Ukraine’s three largest charitable foundations raised a record 105.9 billion hryvnias. It is more than the years 2022–2024 combined. According to the UN, humanitarian aid in Ukraine was delivered by more than 450 organisations, reaching five million people over the course of the year. Civic foundations hold licences to purchase lethal weapons, which is a function states have monopolised for centuries. These record sums were underwritten by international government grants, which means foreign states now channel billions directly through Ukrainian civic funds, bypassing inter-state channels. It is hard to imagine a stronger institutional trust in civil society.
During the GLOBSEC Defence Forum 2026 in Prague, representatives of “Steel Front”, an initiative by Rinat Akhmetov, discussed with NATO delegations, military officials, and representatives of the European defense industry the lessons learned from Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
After the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine witnessed an unprecedented wave of private support for the army. Citizens, big businesses, charitable foundations, and international philanthropists began financing the country’s defense alongside state assistance provided by international partners. Estimates of total private contributions range from tens to hundreds of billions of hryvnias. However, determining the exact amount remains difficult. In many cases, companies combine military aid, humanitarian programs, tax payments, social spending, and employee support in their reporting.
Rinat Akhmetov’s military initiative, “Steel Front”, has delivered a batch of drones worth UAH 214 million to the 1st “Azov” Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine. This shipment is part of the Metinvest Group’s ongoing support for the unit in 2025.
On October 6, the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court of Ukraine continued hearing case No. 990/80/25, in which the fifth President and leader of the party “European Solidarity”, Petro Poroshenko, seeks to have Presidential Decree No. 81/2025 from February 12, 2025 — enacting sanctions by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) — declared illegal and annulled. The plaintiff claims the document was falsified and that the sanctions are a tool of political persecution of the opposition, contrary to international norms. Government representatives deny the allegations and insist their actions were lawful. Journalists of Bukvy were present at the hearing.