Experts: Ukraine already producing some weapons for NATO countries, which is achievement of Ukrainian diplomacy
Establishing joint military production with NATO countries is a crucial step toward forming an effective military alliance with them — a goal achieved through the efforts of Ukrainian diplomats and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, notes Rostyslav Balaban, a leading researcher at the I. F. Kuras Institute of Political and Ethno-National Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ph.D. in Political Science and political expert, writes Interfax-Ukraine.
"Before the war, Ukraine had the opportunity to purchase on a conditional basis under NATO permits, but our military-industrial complex was definitely not allowed to produce anything — under no circumstances — neither aircraft, nor engines, nor spare parts. Now that we have joint production facilities, this means that even if these plants are located outside Ukraine, Ukrainian production is present in the military manufacturing of NATO countries. This is a crucial indicator, because this is precisely the stage leading up to an alliance, to a real alliance,” Balaban said during the discussion “State Resilience in Wartime: Critical Infrastructure Management and Countering Hybrid Threats” at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Thursday.
He emphasized that “today we are, de facto, suppliers or manufacturers of some of the weapons for NATO countries.” “And this is a very important indicator achieved by our diplomacy, the President of Ukraine, and our military, because they are invited as experts. Why is this important for us? Because out of a thousand drones produced for France, a thousand must be produced for Ukraine," Balaban said.
In turn, political expert Serhii Yahodzinskyi noted that over time, the military-industrial complex of many countries will adapt to what Ukraine is doing, even though as recently as 2022, “we had to adapt and retrain our soldiers, and our industrial capabilities did not always correspond to what we saw in NATO standards.”