Ukraine to Build Underground Weapons Factories to Shield Industry From Russian Strikes

Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that defense-industry manufacturers whose facilities were damaged by Russian attacks have received approximately $35.7 million in budget support to restore their operations, according to a statement posted on his Facebook page on December 9.

Shmyhal stated that the payments became possible after the Defense Ministry updated its financing mechanism in the summer to support defense enterprises affected by strikes, enabling funds to be sent quickly to repair damage and restart production.

He also added that the ministry is developing a comprehensive plan to protect Ukraine’s defense-industrial complex from future attacks.

The measures include changing the geography of production by dispersing facilities across safer regions of the country and relocating or duplicating the capacities of critically important enterprises to create redundancy and ensure continuity of output, even if one site is compromised.

They also envisage moving plants out of areas where the Russian army is actively using guided aerial bombs, and constructing hardened underground manufacturing complexes designed to keep weapons production operating under sustained missile and drone attacks.

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Shmyhal said the goal of these measures is to create “safe conditions for the development of Ukraine’s defense industry” and ensure that Ukrainian soldiers “are provided with everything they need.” 

Earlier, it was reported that Ukraine aims to attract up to $30 billion in investment to scale up its domestic defense industry capacity, thereby boosting the production of drones, missiles, artillery, and other military hardware within its borders.

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