Ukraine defense ministry to spend over $500 million on 'Army of Drones' project in 2023

As the war between Russia and Ukraine goes unabated, with Russian troops being relentless in their pursuit of invading Ukrainian territory, Ukraine's defence ministry has announced that it will use Hr 20 billion ($500 million) from its defence budget to purchase drones.

Notably, the use of drones will it possible for Ukraine to gain advancement in the ongoing war, reducing Russia’s combat potential significantly and forcing the enemy to stop further advancing to take any offensive actions, said Commander of the Joint Forces of Ukraine Serhii Naev.

Ukrainian defense dept to buy over 1700 drones, amid talks with West over providing more aircraft

According to the Kyiv Independent report, a total of 1,711 drones have already been contracted under the "Army of Drones" project, of which almost 1,000 have been handed over to the Ukrainian military, the commander said.

Earlier, after getting Germany's final approval on supplying Ukraine with modern Western tanks, embattled President Zelenksyy urged his western allies to help him provide long-range missiles and even Western aircraft to help it achieve "victory" against Russia. "We have to unlock the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine; it is important for us to expand our cooperation in artillery; we must supply aircraft to Ukraine." He called this "an important task for us all." Meanwhile, after Zelenskyy's request, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said West," understands how the war is developing," and the need to supply aircraft that Berlin and Washington pledged at the beginning of the month. 

Notably, this development has come at a time when Russian strikes on residential areas in Ukraine's southern city of Kherson killed at least three people, the authorities said on Sunday (January 29). Meanwhile, in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian officials confirmed that four people were killed in a railway bridge attack that was carried out by Ukrainian troops.

Image: AP