Ukraine and the European Union signed a defense-industrial partnership dubbed the Drone Deal during Ukrainian Statehood Day celebrations in Kyiv, backed by concrete funding and industrial commitments rather than rhetoric alone, according to the European Commission and Ukrinform.
The Commission disbursed 1 billion euros to support Ukraine’s drone capabilities under the existing 90-billion-euro Ukraine Support Loan. The deal is built around joint ventures between 19 founding member companies, including Quantum Systems, Indra Group, Fincantieri, ORQA, and Ukraine’s Skyfall Industries, with their first meeting scheduled for September in Brussels.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine has “in many ways, gone from being a buyer to a net security provider for Europe,” calling the agreement “our own Drone Deal.” She said the partnership would combine Ukraine’s battle-tested expertise with Europe’s industrial capacity and manufacturing scale.
A key mechanism in the deal allows drones to be built and stockpiled across EU territory rather than solely inside Ukraine, a provision intended to shield production from Russia’s ongoing strikes on Ukrainian defense-industrial sites.
Unlike Ukraine’s prior bilateral Drone Deals with Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, this is the first agreement to apply across the entire EU bloc. Zelensky said Ukraine currently produces 10 million drones a year, with plans to reach 20 million.
The announcement came the same day Russian strikes killed six people and wounded at least 20 in Odesa and Sumy, regional officials said.
