KYIV: A new Ukrainian government approved Thursday will race to expand domestic arms production to meet half the country’s weapons needs within six months as it tries to push back Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Meanwhile, Switzerland said Thursday that the US Defense Department had informed it that Washington is diverting a Swiss order for Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, which badly needs to improve its response to increasingly heavy Russian aerial attacks.
The Swiss Defense Ministry, which in 2022 ordered five Patriot systems, said Thursday it has been informed by the US Defense Department that it will “reprioritize the delivery of Patriot systems to support Ukraine.”
Delivery to Switzerland of the systems, worth billions of dollars, was scheduled to begin in 2027 and be completed in 2028. But the Swiss government said Washington informed it of the delay on Wednesday, adding that it was unclear how many systems would be affected.
Domestic defense manufacturing already accounts for almost 40 percent of weapons used by the Ukrainian military, according to Zelensky. As uncertainty grows about how many more weapons shipments Western countries can provide — and how quickly — Ukraine is keen to increase its output and widen its strikes on Russian soil.
“What we need is greater capacity to push the war back onto Russia’s territory — back to where the war was brought from,” Zelensky said late Wednesday in his nightly video address.
“We must reach the level of 50 percent Ukrainian-made weapons within the first six months of the new government’s work by expanding our domestic production.”
The need to adequately arm Ukraine’s military is pressing as Russia looks to drive forward its summer offensive and pounds Ukrainian cities with hundreds of drones and ballistic and cruise missiles.
Meanwhile, it remained unclear when promises of US-made weapons, especially Patriot missile systems crucial for stretched Ukrainian air defenses, might reach Ukraine. US President Donald Trump agreed to send the weaponry, but it will be paid for by European countries.
NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, told the Associated Press Thursday that “preparations are underway” for weapons transfers to Ukraine and that NATO is working “very closely” with Germany to transfer Patriot systems.
Grynkewich said at a military event in Wiesbaden, Germany, that he had been ordered to “move (the weapons) out as quickly as possible.” He said the number of weapons being transferred is classified.
“We’re already in preparation phase for the first tranche of capability to start moving with respect to Patriots,” he said.
An expert working group under NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe will discuss concrete planning “very quickly but also with corresponding caution,” German Defense Ministry spokesperson Mitko Müller said Wednesday.
He said details were still being worked out.
“Regarding the systems that we are talking about, I can’t confirm that anything is currently on the way. I’m not aware of that,” he said.
NATO chief Mark Rutte said in Washington on Monday that the alliance is coordinating the military support with funding from allies in Europe and Canada. He said there were commitments from Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada “with more expected to follow.”
Ukraine has also developed its own long-range drones, which it uses to strike deep inside Russia.
Russian air defenses shot down 122 Ukrainian drones overnight, the country’s defense ministry said Thursday. The wave of drones caused flights to be grounded at airports in Moscow and St. Petersburg, although most of the drones were reportedly destroyed over the border regions of Bryansk and Kursk.
Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine with 64 Shahed and decoy drones overnight, killing at least one person, the Ukrainian air force reported. The assault centered on the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region, officials said.
In other developments:
Russia on Thursday sent to Ukraine 1,000 bodies, including some of the country’s fallen soldiers, the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said.
At the same time, Russia received the bodies of 19 soldiers, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky said.
The exchange was part of a deal reached at direct peace talks last May and June that produced few other agreements between the sides.
