Last week, the Industrial and Defence Committee of Ukraine was established to coordinate the work of ministries and agencies, defence enterprises and the expert community. Its inaugural meeting has already taken place. This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during a Government meeting on 13 February.

According to him, a number of important decisions were made to synchronise activities and improve performance.

According to the Prime Minister, modern weapons that destroy the enemy are the key to future victory. First of all, we are talking about the developments of the Defence Tech cluster, scaling up the production of drones of various categories, electronic warfare and other means necessary for the frontline.

"The state has made a real revolution in regulating the production of drones. We have adopted 20 laws and regulations, and thanks to this, we have expanded manufacturing by 100 times. We have eliminated bureaucracy, and there is real competition among about two hundred private companies in the UAV sector," the Prime Minister said.

The Head of Government reminded that this year's state budget envisaged UAH 40 billion for the purchase of drones.

Denys Shmyhal also stressed that the most recent technologies were already changing the course of the war.

"Naval drones have paralysed the enemy fleet in the Black Sea and ensured the security of the water logistics corridor. In just six months, combat drones have hit more than 14,000 targets: russian equipment, air defence and electronic warfare systems, as well as fortifications," the Head of Government noted.

He reminded that on 6 February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had issued a decree to establish the Unmanned Systems Forces as a separate branch of the Armed Forces. Thus, the potential of drones in cooperation with other branches of the Armed Forces will be maximised, according to the Prime Minister.

In addition, Ukraine has made huge progress in the production of ammunition. Thus, last year, the production of mortar shells increased 42 times and artillery shells - 2.5 times.

"We expect a new high in growth in 2024. Deregulation, which has already been carried out, will contribute to this. We have established clear algorithms for the development and commissioning of products. This will attract even more Ukrainian producers to fulfil defence orders," said Denys Shmyhal.

Joint defence ventures with partners, including localisation of production in Ukraine, are also a priority. Ukraine is working on this, in particular, with the Germany-based Rheinmetall. There are agreements with American, Polish, Turkish, British partners and other countries.

In addition, according to the Prime Minister, Ukraine is actively preparing the infrastructure for servicing F-16 aircraft and hopes to receive them as soon as possible.