European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced an agreement with Ukraine to allocate 2 billion euros for the production of drones, Ukrinform reports.
The EC President announced the relevant information during a joint statement with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Brussels before the start of the security meeting of the European Commission College.
"If we continue to believe that Ukraine is our first line of defense, we must increase military assistance to Ukraine. That is why we have specifically agreed with Ukraine that a total of 2 billion euros will now be spent on drones. This allows Ukraine to scale up and use its full potential. And, of course, this will also allow the EU to benefit from this technology," said Ursula von der Leyen.
The EC President also emphasized that Europe must "provide a strong and united response to the incursion of Russian drones into our borders."
"That is why we will propose immediate measures to create a 'drone wall' within the framework of the Eastern Flank Watch initiative. We must move forward together with Ukraine and NATO," she noted.
It was previously reported that the UK intends to deploy a large-scale defensive system of its own drones in Eastern Europe to strengthen the defense of NATO countries against Russian attacks. The concept involves the creation of the so-called "drone wall" - Britain is implementing this project in cooperation with Ukraine within the framework of the Project OCTOPUS program.