15.07.2026 Today the European Union and Ukraine signed a new defense industrial partnership aimed at expanding joint drone (pictured) production by combining Ukraine’s battlefield expertise with Europe’s manufacturing capacity, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said:
The European Union and Ukraine signed a new defense industrial partnership aimed at expanding joint drone production by combining Ukraine’s battlefield expertise with Europe’s manufacturing capacity, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said https://t.co/ojyLFUAhYw pic.twitter.com/yvybyioadP
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 15, 2026
Ursula von der Leyen announced a “drone deal” with Ukraine to boost joint production of the key battlefield technology. The announcement formalised EU-Ukraine drone partnership, building on earlier disbursements under the Ukraine Support Loan.
“This deal will bring together Ukrainian ingenuity and Europe’s industrial scale,” von der Leyen said in Kyiv, after receiving an award from President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine has already signed similar deals with some individual EU countries and Gulf nations looking to tap into the expertise Kyiv has developed during more than four years of war with Russia.
Just four years ago, Ukraine possessed only a handful of domestic drone manufacturers. Today, it is rapidly becoming the world’s largest producer of combat drones. Independent estimates cited by the Kyiv Post indicate that Ukraine will manufacture between five and six million drones in 2026.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the country aims to produce around ten million drones annually, while other Ukrainian officials believe production capacity could eventually reach twenty million with sufficient investment.
Drones are now the dominant force on the battlefield, accounting for more than three-quarters of all Russian losses. At sea, Ukrainian marine drones have forced the Russian Black Sea Fleet to retreat from Crimea, leading to talk of a new era in naval warfare. Ukraine is also increasingly fielding an army of robots to support ground operations and reduce the risk to front line troops.
However the proliferation of AI in warfare introduces “unprecedented challenges, prompting a critical examination of its impact on moral agency and accountability”. In her research Dr.Elke Schwarz warns about the consequences of the adoption of AI technologies, which reshape our relationship with violence, challenging conventional notions of ethical conduct in warfare.
By interrogating the implications of AI-enabled weapon systems, Dr Schwarz addresses pressing concerns regarding the erosion of “moral responsibility and the normalisation of brutality in modern warfare”.
Image above:Drone, Jared Brashier, illustration.
