BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius on Monday called for more integration between the European and Ukrainian defence industries.
“To stop Putin, we need to produce more, we need to innovate more, and we need to do that together in the European Union and with Ukraine,” Kubilius told officials and industry representatives in Brussels.
Speaking at a defence industry forum, Kubilius said that an EU-Ukraine task force will convene for the first time on Monday “to assist integration of our defence industries, to facilitate development of joint projects or joint procurement processes”.
The commissioner, a former Lithuanian prime minister, said Europe can learn from Ukraine’s innovative industry, pointing to advances with drones and artificial intelligence.
“In the future, when Europe will need to take the whole responsibility for the defence of European continent, Ukraine will be the most important part of the new European security architecture,” he said.
(Reporting by Lili Bayer, editing by Bart Meijer)
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