Ukraine is increasing arms production, developing its defence industry and meeting all locial obligations to its citizens. This was announced by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal at a press conference on 9 September.

According to him, the Government's key tasks in the area of defence and defence capability today are the production of weapons, uninterrupted financing of all the needs of the Security and Defence Forces, as well as financing and construction of fortifications.

The Head of Government said that in 2023, arms production had increased threefold, and in the first 8 months of this year, production had increased by another twofold.

"Drone production continues to grow. We have created a drone market, opening up business opportunities. We are actively creating a market for ammunition for drones. More than 1 million drones have already been contracted this year,’ noted Denys Shmyhal adding that the domestic production of shells, including ammunition for artillery, was also on the rise.

In addition, cooperation with partners is active in this area. We already have the first agreements. Denys Shmyhal reminded that the European Peace Fund was in operation, which purchases weapons for Ukraine. According to the Head of Government, it is important that these resources are used to finance Ukrainian production.

The Prime Minister said that more and more new foreign defence companies are starting to operate.

"In the area of military cooperation, our goal is to reach a level where Ukraine has localised the production of a large number of different weapons: from ammunition and shells to armoured personnel carriers and tanks," said Denys Shmyhal.

He also stressed that the key priorities and tasks facing the Government included finding resources to finance the army. To this end, the Cabinet of Ministers is developing various initiatives, including the revision of certain types of taxes.

The Prime Minister stressed that an equally important task was to ensure financial stability in the country.

"100% of all taxes from the central budget go to our security and defence. This is in fact the economy of war. It was the case last year and it remains so now. We are planning the next year's budget based on this principle," the Head of Government stressed.

The Prime Minister informed that almost USD 100 billion of external financing had already been attracted to finance non-military expenditures. The external debt has also been restructured.

"We have received a political decision to use USD 50 billion of frozen assets of the russian federation for the benefit of Ukraine. Our goal remains unchanged - to confiscate all USD 300 billion of frozen russian assets," said Denys Shmyhal.

He also reminded that this year Ukraine had obtained a support package from the United States, launched the EU's Ukraine Facility, and was working with the IMF.

"We have received funds from the IMF and a mission is currently underway to review the fifth Extended Fund Facility. The programme of the G7 countries worth USD 142 billion for 5 years is focused on this," the Prime Minister stressed.