Production capacity of the defense industry exceeds the current budget by three times

Source: Interfax-Ukraine

Oleksandr Kamyshin, the Minister of Strategic Industries, said that for the year 2024, Ukraine has $6 billion at its disposal for the purchase of weapons.Instead, the production capabilities of the Ukrainian defense industry are three times higher than this budget.

Kamyshin explained that the entire defense budget for 2024 is about $40 billion. About $30 billion of this amount is salaries and payments to the military personnel and $6 billion are allocated for the purchase of weapons.

‘This is the amount that we currently have in contracts for our manufacturers, primarily Ukrainian, and it is very little, since our production capabilities are three times larger,’ Kamyshin said.

He noted that Ukraine is currently negotiating with partners regarding the purchase of products of the Ukrainian military industry and the transfer of weapons to the Defense Forces.

As of today, Ukraine is ready to cover a number of positions in defense needs with its own production. In particular, it is about armored vehicles, different types of unmanned systems, and artillery systems.