Ukraine became the world’s largest importer of major arms in the period 2020–2024, with its imports increasing nearly a hundredfold compared with 2015–19. The country has also reformed its own arms industry, ramping up production since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Ukraine emerged as the largest importer of major arms globally between 2020 and 2024, with purchases increasing nearly a hundredfold compared to the previous five-year period, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported on Monday.
At the same time, Ukraine has significantly ramped up its domestic weapon production since 2022, a direct response to Russia’s all-out invasion in February of that year.
Around 35% of all weapons needed reportedly are now produced locally, compared to less than 10% at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Europe currently supplies around 30% of Ukraine’s military needs, while the US provides another 40%.
Yet, Ukraine can self-produce even more, Ukraine’s Strategic Industries Minister Herman Smetanin told Euronews.
“Up to 40% of weapons used at the frontlines are made in Ukraine. It is almost a half and we can produce even more, we just need funding,” Smetanin said.
Approximately 500 arms producers are operating in Ukraine, collectively employing nearly 300,000 people. Smetanin says all of them are ready and capable of increasing output and production, but they lack money and commitment to long-term funding.
Understandable, he says, as he points out that “not a single country would be able to be fully self-sufficient given the intensity of Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
“We have financial constraints, and Russia does have those too. But they have a different level and size of economy. They can afford a little more than we can,” Smetanin added.
After Smetanin’s interview with Euronews, Ukraine opened private companies’ access to defence technologies that are owned by the state.
If a state customer in the field of defence procurement requires weapons in volumes that exceed the capabilities of state-owned enterprises, at the initiative of the Ministry of Defence, the design documentation may be transferred to other manufacturers, including private ones, according to new rules.
The main achievement of Ukraine is different, however, Smetanin said.
Ukraine’s main weapon
“We have a new generation of weapons constructors and developers,” Smetanin said, adding that thanks to them, Ukraine is “becoming stronger in the world thanks to the technologies we have.”
“Look at deepstrike drones, first-person-view drones, other technologies. Who is creating all this? Young people, young engineers, postgraduates and graduates of our Ukrainian universities. A new generation of young people is emerging who are capable of further developing this country in five or ten years,” he illustrated.
And thanks to them, Ukraine is changing the approach and proves to the world that the world can learn a thing or two from Ukraine, Smetanin proudly added.
“Now more and more foreigners are coming, they see that we have such a production facility, they are very interested and ask how much does it cost? And they want our technologies because it is 10 times cheaper in Ukraine and because everything has already been developed and tested, so they wouldn’t need to wait for years,” he said.
Ukraine is now waiting for the most complicated weapons of its own make — missiles, specifically air defence ones, which the country did not produce before Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“We had one missile, an anti-ship missile. We produced only dozens of them. And we actually spent 10 years developing this missile,” Smetanin recalled.
Three years into the full-scale invasion, Ukraine “now already has its own home made missiles,” according to him.
In December, Ukraine unveiled a new domestically produced missile drone dubbed the “Peklo” (meaning “Hell” in Ukrainian). This latest addition to the country’s arsenal has a reported range of 700 kilometres and can reach speeds up to 700km/h.
By the end of 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the serial production of the long-range Palyanytsia missile drone was underway, with trials of the new Ruta missile ongoing.
Also a new long-range version of Ukraine’s domestically produced Neptune cruise missile is expected to become operational in the near future.
The Neptune is currently best known as the weapon used to sink the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the cruiser Moskva, during the initial months of the Russian invasion in spring 2022.
Patriot on pause
Smetanin remained very tight-lipped on any other projects Ukraine has been working on amid its missile production programme, saying only that due to the unfortunate circumstances, Ukraine had to push harder to develop its defence industry and can already now produce arms together with European manufacturers.
“Now the company that produces NASAMS is thinking about integrating the Ukrainian rocket into its complex,” he said.
NASAMS, aka Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, is a European-made mobile air defence system capable of launching 72 missiles in just 12 seconds. It is used to intercept aircraft, helicopters, and cruise missiles within a range of up to 40 kilometres.
But when it comes to protecting itself against Russia’s most powerful ballistic missiles, Ukraine only has the US-made Patriot defence systems. And with Washington now pausing its military shipments to Kyiv, they could soon run out of ammunition.
“This is the US licence and nothing can be done without their approval. This is the most complicated and the most concerning item in terms of Ukraine’s dependence,” Smetanin concluded.
