Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Thursday that German defense giant Rheinmetall is to build an ammunition plant to supply the Ukrainian military in a “safe region” of Ukraine.
Writing on Facebook, Shmyhal said that the plans for the project had been finalized and the land allocated on Sept. 9, during his attendance of a weapons exhibition in London where Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger was also present.
“Together with Mr. Papperger, we also discussed the development of air defense, in particular how to jointly advance and improve solutions that will help us counter enemy drones more effectively,” he said.
Rheinmetall is already a critical supplier of ammunition to the Ukrainian military. On Aug. 28, the Bulgarian government announced that Rheinmetall is to open two factories in Bulgaria supplying artillery shells and gunpowder to Ukraine. The Bulgarian plants’ target capacity will be 100,000 shells per year.
Shymhal thanked Rheinmetall for its support and its development of joint large-scale projects with the Ukrainian government.
Ukraine’s European allies have been ramping up military support to Ukraine in recent weeks. Also on Thursday, the defense minister announced plans for Britain to produce thousands of interceptor drones per month for Ukraine.
At the same time, Ukraine is attempting to become less reliant on its allies for the ammunition it so desperately needs. On July 21, the government approved plans for a new grant scheme with the aim of increasing domestic arms production to meet half the country’s weapons needs within six months.
Shmyhal also met with representatives from several other leading defense companies during the weapons exhibition in London this week, as per Ukrinform.