Ukraine’s Minister for Strategic Industries, Herman Smetanin, held another meeting with the EU Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius, alongside the head of his cabinet, Simonas Šatūnas, and cabinet member Ramūnas Stanionis.

“We continued discussions on integrating Ukraine’s defence industry into the European defence-industrial base. This time, the focus was on the importance of independent satellite communications and the challenges surrounding this issue in the context of waging war. We also explored opportunities for Ukrainian enterprises within the European defence industry,” said Herman Smetanin.

The EU Commissioner for Defence and Space highlighted Ukraine’s unique expertise in the defence sector. He noted that Europe could learn significantly from the Ukrainian experience, particularly in rapidly scaling up defence industry production and its innovations. Andrius Kubilius emphasised that this was the reason for advancing closer mutual integration between the EU and Ukrainian defence sectors and for deepening cooperation in various areas of defence and space.

The parties also discussed the upcoming Ukraine-EU Defence Industries Forum, set to take place in Brussels next week.

Herman Smetanin thanked Andrius Kubilius for his steadfast support for Ukraine’s defence industry and for facilitating the establishment of partnership ties.