European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen does not hide that she is extremely impressed by the results demonstrated by Ukraine's defense industry, even during the war with Russia.
Points of attention
- The European Union recognized Ukraine's new achievements and called for it to begin strengthening its own defense industry.
- Cooperation with Ukraine in the field of defense and innovation can be beneficial for the EU.
The EU appreciated Ukraine's new achievements
Amidst the threats constantly emerging on the international stage, Ursula von der Leyen called on Europe to immediately begin strengthening its own defense industry.
According to her, one of the elements of such efforts should be the exchange of experience with Ukrainian industry, which is an example of lightning-fast growth and high efficiency.
One of the elements we discussed is accelerating innovation, including cooperation with Ukraine and its defense industry. It is very impressive to see how quickly the Ukrainian industry has been built, for example, in the production of drones — cheaper, faster, focused on more "smart" drones. Our defense industry can learn a lot from the Ukrainian defense industry.

Ursula von der Leyen
Head of the European Commission
In addition, she called on not to ignore the threats that are currently emerging — this concerns not only the aggressor country Russia, but also cyberattacks by other states.
As von der Leyen noted, it is important to prepare for this while there is still time.
We must be strong in defense. Europe needs a surge in defense, and for that, our industrial base must be strengthened.
What is important to understand is that in 2024, Ukraine rose to 20th place in the ranking of 71 countries — the largest steel producers.