On April 16, the Kingdom of Denmark announced the allocation of 200 million Danish kroner (28.5 million dollars) for the purchase of weapons and military equipment for the Armed Forces from Ukrainian manufacturers. In total, approximately DKK 2.2 billion was allocated.
Denmark will buy Ukrainian weapons for the Armed Forces
The funds provided in the framework of the new aid package for Ukraine will be used for this purpose.
Ukrainian Minister of Strategic Industry, Oleksandr Kamyshin, announced this.
This is the first and so far unprecedented decision: military products for the Ukrainian Defence Forces are purchased from Ukrainian manufacturers at the expense of another state.
Such a decision is crucial both for the Ukrainian army and for the Ukrainian economy. The Ukrainian defence industry's production capacity significantly exceeds the state budget's purchasing capacity.
The Ukrainian defence industry's capacity is about 20 billion dollars. At the same time, Ukraine has only 6 billion dollars for the purchase of weapons. Roughly speaking, we only have a third of all the machines available in the country because there is not enough money to provide the rest with orders.
Oleksandr Kamyshin
Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine
The optimal way out of this situation is to convince partners that they are ready to buy weapons for Ukraine to do it in Ukraine.
This is how the "ZBROYARI: Manufacturing Freedom" project was born. This is a global fundraising campaign, a strategic collection — not for people, but for entire nations. His goal is to collect 10 billion dollars for the production of Ukrainian weapons this year. Today we have the first donation. This decision is significant, it opens the way for other countries - and we are incredibly grateful to the Danish government and the Danish people for their leadership.
He said a considerable team in Ukraine and Denmark worked on this decision.
I am grateful to my President, the teams of the Office of the President and the Prime Minister, I am grateful to the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the entire team of the Ministry of Strategy and Industry, parliamentarians and others involved.
What is known about the new aid package from Denmark
Denmark allocates an aid package of almost 295 million euros (2.2 billion Danish kroner). The funds will go to developing the maritime potential of the Armed Forces, drones and the production of missile components.
The Ministry of Defense of Denmark announced that it is investing in the Ukrainian defence industry to purchase and donate weapons and ammunition, unmanned aerial vehicles, and missile components in cooperation with the Netherlands and the Czech Republic and to strengthen Ukraine's maritime potential.
In March, I visited a number of Ukrainian defense industry enterprises in Kyiv, and it became clear that there is great potential for future cooperation that can deliver the necessary equipment to Ukraine to help make a difference on the battlefield.
The aid package includes many agreements with allies for purchases and joint donations from allied defence industries. Danish companies supply some of the materials.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen noted that direct investment is a new initiative that he hopes can inspire other countries to do the same so that Ukraine can produce more of the military equipment it desperately needs.
Denmark has already allocated almost 5.9 billion euros (41.4 billion Danish kroner) for military support to Ukraine.
