"Support from allies will become faster and more effective. Defenders of Ukraine must be provided with everything necessary to put an end to Russian aggression. [...] We expect our partners to take the initiative in equipping our brigades and battalions. We have had successful cooperation with France, which has trained one of the Ukrainian brigades and provided it with armored vehicles," said Umerov.
According to him, another area of partner support is the strengthening of air defense in anticipation of winter.
"The enemy continues to attempt to destroy our critical infrastructure, so we need more air defense systems and ammunition for them. The next important issue is artillery ammunition. We thank our European partners for supplying Ukraine with 1 million artillery shells. However, we need more to achieve parity with the enemy," the minister stated.
Umerov also outlined opportunities for cooperation in the defense industry:
- partnership in the production of 155-mm ammunition;
- localization of air defense and missile systems production in Ukraine, as well as partnership in developing Ukrainian air defense systems;
- localization of heavy armored vehicles and artillery systems production;
- partnership in defense technologies such as autonomous systems, radars, and electronic warfare systems.
"At the same time, we plan to conduct an audit of the assistance provided by allied states during 2022, 2023, and 2024. We need to determine which models of support for Ukraine worked best and scale them up. Ukraine is also open to new initiatives that will help quickly meet the needs of our soldiers in 2025. We must act boldly and cohesively. Only then can we achieve a just and lasting peace in Europe," he believes.