Ukraine will produce 1 million drones in 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec. 19, as the country aims to ramp up arms production for another year of the war.

“I am positive about increasing our drone production and about the formation of specialized units,” Zelensky said, adding there is also a need for an appropriate infrastructure for drone management.

“As for production, we are making one million drones next year. We will make a million. We will do everything to make it so, and I know that it will be so.”

The president noted he held a meeting with the top military commanders, during which he stressed the importance of proper logistics for drone delivery.

“I don’t like that logistically we are still mired in bureaucratic Soviet processes when 26,000 drones lie in warehouses and fail to reach the front,” Zelensky commented.

He nevertheless voiced confidence that the matter of logistics would be resolved.

Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin revealed in October that Ukraine is already producing thousands of drones per month, with the aim to build tens of thousands per month.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that more than 200 Ukrainian companies have begun developing drones, fueling a massive increase in production as well as technical innovation.

Read also: Deadly drone arms race intensifies as Ukraine, Russia embrace the future of war

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