Ukraine is promised a million drones within a year by allies

RIGA, Latvia – A coalition of allies aims to deliver a million drones to Ukraine within a year, as the country

struggles to cope with ammunition shortages

and a funding fight in Washington.

“The primary task at the moment is to supply Ukraine with these very necessary technologies, also to tilt the balance, especially in the context when there are still some shortages of ammunition,” Mr Andris Spruds, Latvia’s defence minister, said in an interview in Brussels on Feb 13.

A Latvia-led group of about 10 countries aims to supply the drones by Feb 24, 2025, the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The invasion is not just a conflict between Ukraine and Russia but also a clash involving competing defence industries, Mr Spruds said.

The pledge from allies, including Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, comes as the European Union delayed by several months its promise to deliver one million artillery rounds to Kyiv by March.

In Washington, a US aid package is

blocked in a stand-off in Congress

.

The Kremlin has about three or four times more artillery than Ukrainian forces after boosting its ammunition production to as many as four million units in 2023, up from 600,000 rounds in 2022, Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said this week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed on Feb 10 a new deputy to General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who will oversee unmanned combat systems and drones, the sphere which the president and his recently appointed commander have identified as a key priority. BLOOMBERG