Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Western allies for $30 billion to help Ukraine fully ramp up its domestic weapons production and push back against Russian forces.
“I would like us to receive $30 billion in order to fully launch only Ukrainian production,” Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday, according to a Kyiv Post journalist.
“So that you can roughly understand what war is and in what volumes. That is, in principle, we are underutilized by about this amount of money. We are underutilized for a year. I mean both the missile program and everything that we are capable of producing.”
Zelensky said Ukraine still relies on foreign help for some supplies.
“Artillery shells, for example, are handled by the European Union,” he said.
“I thank them, especially Ursula [von der Leyen]. We found two-thirds of the money for artillery shells in external purchases. This is not an issue of production capacity, it’s an issue of funding, the issue of the external package that we needed for a year,” he added.
As US support under President Donald Trump and peace talks with Russia remain uncertain, Ukraine is now looking inward for solutions. However, Zelensky warned that Ukraine’s economy – battered by more than three years of war – lacks the investment needed to meet the country’s demands.
Russia has recently increased its missile and drone strikes, launching some of the largest attacks of the war this month. At the same time, international aid is drying up.
Zelensky said Ukraine is looking at frozen Russian assets as a possible funding source and plans to raise the issue at next month’s Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Alberta, Canada. The G-7 proposed a $56.5 billion loan package last year using profits from $300 billion in frozen Russian assets.
“There are Russian assets from the country that brought war to us,” Zelensky said. “I believe there are many instruments available to finance Ukraine’s war efforts.”
He also called for expanding Ukraine’s drone program, aiming to increase daily drone missions from 100 to 300–500.
“This is not an issue of production capacity. It is an issue of funding,” he said. “If our partners help us, the Russians will feel the response.”