State contracts must get Ukrainian army 1.6 million drones

Source: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

Ukraine’s government wants to procure 1.6 million drones for Ukrainian troops this year, but is it feasible?

Ukraine’s defense ministry and digital transformation ministry have signed  drone contracts totaling over 114 billion hryvnias, but suppliers have fulfilled orders for 1.28 million drones worth over 81 billion hryvnias with an additional 366,940 drones scheduled for delivery by the end of this year.

In its statement on Tuesday, Ukraine’s defense ministry revealed that the drones supplied include a wide range of models suited for various battlefield tasks. Among them are long-range Deepstrike-kamikaze drones, FPV kamikaze drones, DJI Mavic reconnaissance drones, reconnaissance planes, wing drones, as well as strike-capable copters and aircraft.

It is worth noting that the Ukrainian government has contracted 155,205 drones for 2025, earmarking 32.33 billion hryvnias for such contracts.

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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.