The Drone Coalition will allocate EUR 1.8 billion for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2024.
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced this on his Facebook page, the Ukrainian News agency reports.
"EUR 1.8 billion - that's how much the countries of the international drone coalition will allocate this year to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Our partners from Latvia, which, together with the United Kingdom, is leading this initiative, have announced this. This decision will allow Ukraine to strengthen its technological advantage on the battlefield and more effectively destroy the enemy," he said.
Umerov noted that on October 31, the first meeting of the coalition's managing group was held in Riga, which brought together 17 countries: Australia, the UK, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Poland, France, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Ukraine.
Latvia will allocate EUR 20 million this year for the drone coalition: at least EUR 10 million for procurement from domestic industry, EUR 5 million for joint procurement within the coalition.
In addition, he reported that an agreement was signed with Latvian partners to train Ukrainian military personnel in the drone piloting program.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in October, Luxembourg became the 17th partner country to join the international Drone Coalition for Ukraine.
The Drone Coalition was created by Ukraine and Latvia, the decision to do so was made during the visit of Latvian Defense Minister Andris Sprūds to Kyiv in December 2023. The coalition became operational in February 2024.
In September, Ukrainian drone manufacturers were given the opportunity to join international tenders within the coalition for the first time.
Who we are: About us, Contacts. How we write news and our principles: Editorial code. We did our best. If you found this valuable – please support us.
To request a correction, please send an email.