KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine will set up offices for arms exports and joint weapons production in Berlin and Copenhagen this year, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday.
Kyiv is scaling up its burgeoning domestic defense industry with help from its Western partners as it fends off Russian forces in its fourth year of war with Moscow.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Zelenskiy said naval drones and artillery systems were among the weapons that Kyiv would be able to export.
“This is (about) co-production and export…of the weapons that we can allow ourselves to sell, in order to have more money for our internal production of deficit items for which we don’t have the money,” he said.
Ukraine is still reliant on its allies for weapons like fighter jets and air-defence systems, but has made gains in developing its drone and missile programmes.
Zelenskiy added that Ukraine plans to launch mass production of its domestically produced missiles – the Flamingo and Ruta – by the end of this year.
He also said a Ukrainian delegation would visit Washington next week for further talks on a U.S.-Ukraine drone deal which Kyiv hopes will bolster ties with the Trump administration.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk, writing by Olena Harmash and Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Peter Graff)
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