Ukraine currently produces 10 million drones annually and plans to double that figure, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.
Speaking during celebrations marking Ukrainian Statehood Day in Kyiv, Zelensky said the country’s rapid expansion of drone production had exceeded expectations.
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“I remember when I first publicly announced the state’s plan to produce 1 million drones a year. There was a lot of skepticism, both in Ukraine and abroad,” Zelensky said.
“Now we can state: we are producing 10 million drones a year. Ten million – and there will be 20 million,” he added.
The president said Ukraine aims to achieve the target together with its allies.
His remarks come after Deputy Defense Minister Mstyslav Banik told the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in June that Ukraine’s defense industry has the capacity to produce up to 20 million drones annually in the future if it receives sufficient funding and support from allies.
Banik also said Ukraine’s defense industry is capable of manufacturing thousands of missiles for both long-range strikes and air defense systems, urging allies to invest more heavily in the country’s expanding defense production.
A 2025 Bloomberg report estimated that the country was producing around 4 million unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) annually.
The output ranged from long-range strike drones to low-cost first-person-view (FPV) drones operated via onboard cameras. By comparison, the report noted that the US manufactures roughly 100,000 military drones each year.
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“It’s not just the quantity of drones, it’s the variety,” RAND analyst Michael Bohnert told Bloomberg. “Probably more than all NATO countries combined right now.”
As Europe has looked to Ukraine for drone expertise and the continent accelerates its rearmament efforts.
Companies such as Skyeton and Fire Point have expanded production into Slovakia, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, often with backing from European governments.
Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Ukraine’s defense sector had grown dramatically, with the number of domestic drone manufacturers increasing from just 10 in 2022 to more than 500 by 2025.
“You are not in the global defense tech market if your product has not been tested in Ukraine,” Fedorov said.
On Wednesday, Zelensky also signed a new “Drone Deal” with the EU during European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Kyiv.
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