On October 15, Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukraine will need between 12 and 20 billion USD in military aid next year, as part of a new NATO initiative to purchase weapons from the US.
Speaking at a defense conference with NATO members in Brussels ( Belgium), Mr. Shmyhal affirmed that Ukraine is capable of producing 10 million unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by 2026 if it receives enough funding from its allies.
Minister Shmyhal further noted that the country also needs more long-range artillery shells to continue fighting Russian forces, and pledged that Ukraine will self-guarantee $60 billion for defense needs in 2026, estimated at $120 billion.
Also at the meeting, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called on his Western allies to remain determined and increase arms aid to Ukraine.
You can trust Germany. We will continue and expand our support to Ukraine. With the new contracts, Germany will provide an additional aid package worth more than 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) Pistory said at a meeting attended by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Mr. Pistorius said the new aid package will "meeting Ukraine's urgent needs, including air defense systems, patriot interceptors, radars, precision artillery and ammunition", and revealed that Germany will hand over two more IRIS-T air defense systems along with many guided missiles and shoulder- defenses.
On the same day, Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said foreign donors had contributed 93.3 billion Corons ($4.5 billion) to the Czech-led initiative to search for and supply large-scale artillery shells to Ukraine.
According to Ms. Cernochova, the Czech Republic has contributed 1.7 billion Corons to the program.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala said at a press conference with Cernochova that the Czech Republic had arranged to supply a total of 3.7 million artillery shells to Ukraine, of which 1.3 million were transferred this year.
Also on October 15, British Defense Minister John Healey said the UK had transferred more than 85,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Ukraine over the past 6 months.
For its part, Russia has always warned that the continued supply of weapons to Ukraine by Western countries is hindering the peace process and causing NATO allies to directly participate in the conflict.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has affirmed that any shipment of weapons containing aid to Ukraine has become a legitimate target of Russia.
