EU and Ukraine expand drone deal in Kyiv, with anti-ballistic plans by 2028

The European Union and Ukraine have announced a joint drone production deal in Kyiv, adding detail to an earlier defence industrial partnership unveiled on the same day. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the arrangement is designed to combine Ukrainian expertise with the EU's industrial capacity and create joint projects to scale up production. The announcement was made during Ukraine's Statehood Day ceremony in the capital.

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According to the Commission, the deal is the first of its kind to cover countries and companies across the EU, rather than individual bilateral arrangements. It includes 19 founding partners, among them EU-based companies Indra Group, Fincantieri and Quantum Systems, as well as Ukraine's LLC Skyfall Industries. The partnership is also intended to expand into anti-ballistic missile capabilities by 2028, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Europe should build an anti-ballistic system by integrating European capabilities.

The agreement comes as Ukraine continues to develop a sophisticated drone industry after having limited expertise before Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Ms von der Leyen said the EU could offer Ukraine large technological and industrial capacity, along with safe and secure production sites. She also said the initiative would reduce bureaucratic barriers and help establish common standards for joint ventures between Ukrainian and EU-based companies.

The deal has wider significance because it reflects a growing effort by European governments and companies to draw on Ukrainian battlefield experience while strengthening their own defences against Moscow. Ukraine has already signed a series of drone agreements with individual countries, and Mr Zelenskyy said that after three more deals signed at last week's NATO summit in Ankara, the total had reached nine. The new EU-wide arrangement marks a broader industrial step than those earlier bilateral deals.

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The announcement also fits into a wider pattern of defence cooperation that has accelerated since the war began, with drones now central to both attack and defence planning. Mr Zelenskyy has travelled widely to promote drone partnerships, including in the Middle East, where some Gulf states have shown interest in Ukrainian know-how as they seek to counter Iranian strikes. The Commission said the new framework is meant to make cooperation easier across borders, but it did not give a timetable for production volumes or delivery targets.

What remains unclear is how quickly the joint projects will move from announcement to production, and how the anti-ballistic element will be developed by 2028. The Commission has not set out the full financing structure or the specific roles of each founding partner. Further details are likely to focus on implementation, industrial capacity and whether the model is expanded beyond the current group of companies and countries.

Earlier reporting on this story — 15 Jul 2026 · 16:31

The European Commission and Ukraine signed a new defence industrial partnership on Wednesday, setting out a further step in the integration of the European and Ukrainian defence industries. The announcement was made alongside the launch of the EU-Ukraine Drone Deal, which is intended to deepen cooperation on drone and counter-drone technologies.

The source says the partnership is a major move in defence-industrial integration, but gives no further operational details on implementation, scope, or timelines. It identifies the European Commission as the EU actor in the agreement and Ukraine as the partner state.