Zelensky says Ukraine plans to spend more than $500 million on drones

Ukraine will spend at least 20 billion hryvnia (more than $541 million) on the purchase of drones. According to RBC, this was stated by President Vladimir Zelensky.

“Our government made several important decisions this week. In particular, a solution that will boost the production of drones. In total, this year at least 20 billion hryvnias will be directed to the purchase of drones for our soldiers,” Zelensky said.

On March 24, the Ukrainian government adopted a resolution that will speed up the production, purchase and supply of domestic drones to the army.

At the end of January, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov reported that his department had signed 16 government contracts with Ukrainian UAV manufacturers. Kyiv this year will allocate more than $500 million for purchases, he said, his words are quoted by Strana.ua.

Last summer, Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasily Bodnar announced the construction of a Bayraktar plant for the production of drones in Ukraine. The Turkish company Baykar has already registered a company in the country and bought the land, he said. Baykar promised to build the enterprise in two years. The construction of a plant for the production of Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones in Ukraine “falls under the theme of demilitarization”, which “will only prolong the suffering of Ukrainians”, but will not prevent Russia from achieving the goals of the military operation, said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.