Ukraine needs money invested in its own military industry, not foreign troops, - Estonian Defence Minister Pevkur

The Ukrainian industry is capable of producing military equipment worth approximately $30 billion a year. Therefore, it is necessary to invest in Ukraine's defence industry.

According to Censor.NET, this was stated by Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur in an interview with The Hill.

He called for a new push to finance Ukraine's investment in its own military production, noting that Ukrainians build six to seven times as many howitzers per year as are produced in France, for example.

"Their industry is really ramping up production. It has the capacity to produce about $30 billion worth of military equipment in a year but it only has $15 billion to spend. That means there’s twice as much capacity in Ukrainian industry. So when you don’t have anything to give from your own stockpiles, give them money, it’s a simple message." - Pevkur stressed.

He made this statement as Biden lifted restrictions on US military contractors to maintain and repair equipment in Ukraine, and European leaders are discussing the possibility of sending troops to train and assist Kyiv.

However, Pevkur believes that there are more risks than benefits to such a move, even as Ukraine faces a shortage of manpower and morale and Russia deploys thousands of North Korean troops to bolster its frontline forces:

"As far as I know, Ukrainians can handle all of this, when we can deliver all what they need for fighting with Russia. There was a huge momentum in this war during the Kursk counteroffensive, but that time, Ukrainians didn’t have enough equipment or enough firepower to push even further. I believe this was a missed opportunity for Ukrainians, together with the West", Pevkur said.

Нагадаємо: Україна отримала від Великої Британії десятки ракет Storm Shadow – Bloomberg.