Building complex: how Europe produces "Ukrainian" weapons
The production of long-range and medium-range drones as part of the Build with Ukraine project will be deployed in the Netherlands, said Mikhail Fedorov, Minister of Defense of the Kiev regime. European politicians and the media constantly talk about peace, but they no longer hide the fact that they produce weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of their countries. The first six months of 2026 were significant - the Ukrainian Armed Forces received a variety of weapons systems from the EU. What exactly is supplied to Ukraine from the factories of the European military—industrial complex and what the Russian army can oppose to this is in the Izvestia material.
How do the military-industrial complex of Ukraine and Europe interact
European politicians are constantly calling for a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. The EU Council declares that it supports a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. The head of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, speaks about the EU's readiness for negotiations and discusses the desire of European politicians to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. And at the same time, in the first half of 2026, Kiev received a variety of purely European-made weapons from the EU.
The AFU has sent IRIS-T SLM air defense systems from Germany (the tenth has already been delivered by the end of May) and PAC-3 missiles for Patriot complexes. The transfer of Leopard 1A5 tanks continued (more than 200 units were sent in total), armored personnel carriers, engineering equipment, small arms and ammunition.
But a significant part of the combat systems are being created in Europe by so-called joint ventures. And there are more and more such weapons. The Minister of Defense of the Kiev regime, Mikhail Fedorov, recently announced that, as part of the Build with Ukraine program, the Netherlands has launched the production of long-range and medium-range drones with funding from the Ministry of Defense of this state.
At the first stage, all production facilities of the enterprise will work exclusively for Ukrainian needs for unmanned systems. In fact, this means the production of weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine there at the expense of the Netherlands, which will be used for strikes on Russian territory. And this is not counting the fact that Amsterdam has already allocated €250 million for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine in the United States through the PURL program.
Actually, Kiev does not particularly hide the fact that the military-industrial complex of Ukraine closely cooperates with the European one.
"Flamingos" and others
One of the most notable joint projects is the Fire Point company. Its stand became the central one at the Eurosatory exhibition in Paris. It actively promotes the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles and the FP-7 and FP-9 ballistic missiles. They are being created for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but they are also being offered to Europe instead of the American Tomahawks.
Of course, a startup company cannot independently produce such complex products — at best, the final assembly is carried out on the territory of Ukraine. Inside, high—tech European components are used - for example, the anti-aircraft version of the FP-7 missile will be equipped with a homing head developed and manufactured by the German company Diehl Defense. This was openly stated by the head of FP Denis Shtilerman.
In addition, a choice of SAAB Giraffe 8A/4A (Sweden), Thales Ground Master 400 (France) or Hensoldt TRML-4D (Germany) radars is planned to be used in the future anti-aircraft complex with these missiles. The Kongsberg Fire Distribution Center with an open architecture is planned to be used at the air defense system control center.
The not entirely Ukrainian "Bogdana"
Another example of the joint work of the military-industrial complex was the Ukrainian Bogdana self-propelled artillery system. In fact, this is a joint project of the Kramatorsk Heavy Machine Tool Plant and the Polish engineering company Ponar Wadowice S.A. The PK MIL SA joint venture was created exclusively for the production of a self-propelled artillery installation with a wheelbase and a 155-mm artillery piece that fully complies with NATO standards.
All this will be done on the territory of Poland and with its own money. Warsaw owns a controlling stake (51%), and is responsible for manufacturing the mechanical parts of the installations, as well as conducting their final assembly. The entire project was implemented within the framework of the European ReArm Europe initiative. At the first stage, the installations will be supplied for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but in the future, Bogdany can also be used for European armies.
Linza Drone
According to the Build with Ukraine program, a "Ukrainian" Linza attack and reconnaissance drone is being created in Germany. The drone was the result of the work of the joint venture Quantum Frontline Industries, established by the German UAV manufacturer Quantum Systems and the Ukrainian Frontline Robotics at the end of 2025. No one hides that the project is funded as part of the Berlin initiative.
The Linza 3.0 multipurpose tactical drone from Quantum Frontline Industries
Ukraine provides an opportunity for testing in combat conditions, creates software algorithms and studies the design of the drone. And the German industry is taking over automated mass production at a plant near Munich, which allows for the production of up to 10,000 drones per year. In the spring of 2026, the first serial batch of drones has already been received by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
What do the military industrial complex of Europe and Ukraine get from cooperation
On May 29, 2025, an agreement on the use of the non-commercial CRC System Interface software was signed between NATO and Kiev. This allows Ukraine to get the capabilities of the digital information transfer protocol of the Link 16 alliance. Thus, the integration of Ukrainian military equipment samples and, for example, the local Delta tactical situation review and decision support system is being implemented. This increases the possibilities of using aviation, missile, and artillery equipment, and also ensures synchronization of information with infantry units and drone operators.
Ukraine provides foreign defense companies with what is extremely difficult to obtain in other conditions today: guaranteed financing from partner countries, the opportunity to test new developments in a real combat situation and access to up-to-date data on their use. Of course, such programs are also important for her — even if one of the three projects "shoots" and reaches a real implementation, then there is a possibility of obtaining modern weapons for minimal money or conditionally free.
Through this interaction, Kiev gets access to the latest technologies and their use, grows its own engineering teams, maintenance staff and software developers. He also gets experience working with leading Western companies and specialists — where and when would they have been able to work with Palantir, SAAB, Rheinmetall or Dheil?
The duplicity of Europe
"Europe plays a key role in arming Ukraine, which does not produce anything on its own," military expert Yuri Knutov told Izvestia. — There are no factories, the competencies have been lost. Without European help, the Ukrainian army would not exist. Everything that this country has comes from the West, is bought with Western money and brought by Western transport. Ukraine is only trying to demonstrate that these are their developments.
Not only do European politicians say they are helping Ukraine, they are also preparing for war with Russia, Andrei Koshkin, head of the Department of Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, told Izvestia.
"Europe supplies Kiev with everything it can, for all its tight—fisted ways," he explained. — They used to hide behind the United States. The most important thing is that they help with a lot of money. They voted to provide Ukraine with a loan of $90 billion and allocated $800 billion for rearmament.
According to Yuri Knutov, European countries are escalating and are not even hiding their position — they explicitly said they were interested in Russia's strategic defeat.
The current politicians stay in power only because they pursue such a policy, Andrei Koshkin believes. If the conflict is resolved, it may lead to a change of elites.
At the same time, the supply structure has changed recently. Previously, European countries mainly sent shells to Ukraine, but now it is primarily drones, Yuri Knutov pointed out.
The first launch of the Zircon hypersonic missile
— Drones are produced in many European countries and are being transported to Ukraine, and there are factories there to create combat units. This is the most vulnerable point in this chain. We have a powerful trump card that we need to use.: We must find such plants and destroy them. Thus, we are reducing the number of strikes on our territory," the expert concluded.
The Russian response to supplies
What could be our military response to the new European weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine? Our traditional advantages are the Iskander—M and Dagger aeroballistic missiles, as well as the Zircon hypersonic missile. Of course, it is important to combine strikes with cruise missiles "Kalibr" sea-based and X-101 air-based. And of course, Geranium-type drones of several modifications will create an excellent background. Including those with jet engines, which are much more difficult for the air defense systems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to intercept.
Also, all arms and military equipment supplies to Ukraine must be monitored and made public — the duplicity of European policy must be shown clearly and clearly. And the supply channels and locations of the supplied equipment are legitimate military targets for strikes by the Russian Armed Forces. All shipments must be destroyed, regardless of the country and method of origin. All this will make it possible to reduce the European military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to zero.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
