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Ukraine Targets Annual Production of 20 Million Drones Under New EU Partnership
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Ukraine now produces 10 million drones a year and intends to double that output, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on July 15, 2026.
Zelenskyy delivered the figure during a ceremony marking Ukraine's Statehood Day in Kyiv.
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The president recalled that his first public target—one million drones a year—had met widespread doubt at home and abroad. He countered that Ukraine now makes "10 million drones a year. 10, and there will be 20," and pledged to reach the higher figure alongside its partners.
That pledge landed the same day the European Union sealed its own agreement to expand drone manufacturing with Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the deal in Kyiv on the same day, pairing Ukrainian design experience with European industrial capacity. "We need to combine our strengths," she declared, addressing Zelenskyy directly.
According to Reuters, the agreement is the first meant to cover countries and companies across the entire bloc, following a run of bilateral deals Kyiv has signed with individual states.
Von der Leyen described Ukraine's command of drone and anti-drone warfare as unique, pointing to incursions and alerts across several member states as proof of the threat Europe now faces.
The bloc, she noted, can offer large-scale technological and industrial capacity along with secure production sites.
Ukraine built a sophisticated drone sector from limited expertise after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Zelenskyy has since traveled widely to promote drone partnerships, including in the Gulf, where states have sought Ukrainian know-how to counter Iranian strikes.
At last week's NATO summit, he signed three more such agreements, bringing the total to nine.
Earlier, Deputy Defense Minister Mstyslav Banik told the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's spring session that Ukraine could produce up to 20 million drones and thousands of missiles each year if partners financed the effort, describing a defense industry whose full capacity could be brought online within months.
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