Ukraine is scaling up defense cooperation with European partners and has signed three new agreements in the Drone Deal format — with Denmark, the Netherlands, and Estonia. The total number of signed security agreements on strategic partnership in the field of unmanned technologies has reached nine.
Ukraine is scaling up defense cooperation with European partners and has signed three new agreements in the Drone Deal format — with Denmark, the Netherlands, and Estonia. The total number of signed security agreements on strategic partnership in the field of unmanned technologies has reached nine.
The new agreements were announced by the Office of the President and Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s social media following the Ukrainian leader’s meetings with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Ettjens, and Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michail during the NATO summit in Ankara. In addition, Ukraine is actively negotiating the launch of similar defense formats with Germany and Norway.
The Drone Deal format is a comprehensive tool for integrating the Ukrainian defense and technology sector into the European security infrastructure. The agreement combines direct security assistance, financing of joint production of drones in Ukraine, localization of foreign technologies, cyber cooperation and protection of critical infrastructure. For Ukrainian developers, this format opens up legal access to new markets through the state mechanisms of partner countries.
Denmark is one of Ukraine’s key partners in scaling up drone production. The countries previously launched the «Danish model» of direct financing for Ukrainian manufacturers, and the new agreement expands this cooperation.
«It was with Denmark that we started co-production in Ukraine within the Danish model, and it is absolutely fair that now Denmark will have access to Ukrainian exports of war-tested weapons,» said President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A similar agreement was signed with the Netherlands. It is expected that this will accelerate the exchange of engineering expertise between developers from both countries and ensure consistency in the procurement and supply of technological weapons.
«There will be even more opportunities for joint production and development of technologies and, most importantly, systematic exchange of expertise and arms exports,» Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the results of the meeting with Rob Yetten.
The third country to sign a partnership under the Drone Deal during the Ankara summit was Estonia. The agreement with Tallinn envisages the development of joint military production in both countries, including important systems for air defense.
«This agreement is not only a path to faster cooperation between our countries. This is a step and a signal of trust, because we are concluding such an agreement with a very close friend, and this is of great importance,» Zelenskyy emphasized after signing the agreement with Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal.
In parallel, the Ukrainian side held talks on the upcoming Drone Deal with Norway during a meeting with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, as well as details of the upcoming agreement with Germany and its Chancellor Friedrich Merz. An important topic of negotiations with Berlin and Copenhagen remains the financing of drones and the integration of efforts to create a joint European system to counter ballistic threats, as well as the purchase of Patriot interceptor missiles for air defense under the PURL program. This is critical for the protection of Ukrainian skies, as Russia continues to rely on brutal missile strikes.
Currently, the Ukrainian side is negotiating Drone Deal agreements with about 20 other countries around the world. This format of financing and technology exchange helps Ukrainian DefenseTech startups attract systemic investments, test their own developments in real combat conditions, and integrate domestic innovations into NATO standards.
