Denmark became the first country to make a donation to the ZBROYARI: Manufacturing Freedom" project to purchase Ukrainian weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is about 200 million Danish kroner ($28.5 million) for the purchase of weapons and armaments for the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Ukrainian manufacturers. These funds are part of a new aid package from Denmark to Ukraine. A total of approximately DKK 2.2 billion has been allocated.
This was reported by the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine.
The ZBROYARI: Manufacturing Freedom is a global fundraising campaign aimed at raising $10 billion 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," said Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin.
He added that a huge team in Ukraine and Denmark worked on this decision.
The ministry notes that the decision to create this project is unprecedented - when military products for the Ukrainian Defence Forces are purchased from Ukrainian manufacturers at the expense of another country.
This is due to the fact that the production capabilities of the Ukrainian defence industry far exceed the purchasing power of the state budget.
"The capacity of the Ukrainian defence industry is about $20 billion. At the same time, Ukraine has only $6 billion for arms purchases. Roughly speaking, only a third of all the machines available in the country are in operation because we don't have enough money to provide orders for the rest," the minister said.
Kamyshin says the best way out of this situation is to convince partners who are ready to buy weapons for Ukraine to do so in Ukraine. This is how the ZBROYARI: Manufacturing Freedom project was born.