Ukraine looks to jointly produce weapons with allies, while US halts some shipments

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine is forging ahead with embryonic plans for joint weapons production with some of its international allies, top officials said, while the U.S. announced it was halting some arms shipments promised to help Ukraine fight off Russia.

Those plans come at what appears to be a key point in the all-out war launched by Moscow nearly 3½ years ago. A renewed Russian push to capture more Ukrainian land has put Ukraine’s short-handed defenses under severe strain, and Russian missiles and drones are battering Ukrainian cities. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to find a peace settlement, meanwhile, have stalled.

“Any delay or hesitation in supporting Ukraine’s defense capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, not seek peace,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

As Washington has distanced itself from Ukraine’s war efforts under U.S. President Donald Trump, a bigger onus has fallen on European countries to pressure Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday held their first direct telephone call in almost three years. Macron’s office said that during their two-hour conversation, the French leader underlined France’s “unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and called for a ceasefire.

The U.S. decision on pausing some arms deliveries to Ukraine should prompt European Union countries to spend more on developing Ukraine’s defense industry, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said Wednesday.

“It just underlines the need for Europe to do more, and also to invest more in Ukraine,” Lund Poulsen told reporters in Copenhagen. “We could do even more, to give them a stronger way of fighting back.”

Denmark, which on Tuesday took over the EU’s rotating presidency for six months, is already investing directly in Ukraine’s defense industry, which can produce arms and ammunition more quickly and cheaply than elsewhere in Europe.

It’s also allowing companies from Ukraine to set up shop in Denmark and manufacture military equipment on safer ground. Lund Poulsen said that the first companies could start work as soon as September, and he urged European partners to follow suit.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that officials are preparing with a sense of urgency for upcoming meetings with EU countries and other partners to talk about cooperation in weapons manufacturing.

“One of the key topics will be weapons production – our joint investments, joint projects,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address on Tuesday evening.

Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced that draft legislation on joint weapons production with international allies is expected to be put to a vote in the Ukrainian parliament later this month. The proposed laws were shown to national defense companies on Tuesday, Umerov said.

The program includes plans to create a special legal and tax framework to help Ukrainian defense manufacturers scale up and modernize production, including building new facilities at home and abroad, according to Umerov.

Earlier this week, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said during a visit to Kyiv that Germany aims to help Ukraine manufacture more weapons more quickly. He was accompanied on the trip by German defense industry representatives.

The U.S. is halting some weapons deliveries to Ukraine out of concern that its own stockpiles have declined too far, officials said Tuesday. Certain munitions were longer-term commitments promised to Ukraine under the Biden administration, though the Defense Department didn’t provide details on what specific weapons were being held back.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. chargé d’affaires, John Hinkel, on Wednesday to discuss ongoing defense cooperation.

Deputy Foreign Minister Maryana Betsa thanked the U.S. for its continued support, but emphasized the “critical importance” of maintaining previously allocated defense packages, especially for bolstering Ukraine’s air defense.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Pentagon’s decision will help bring a settlement closer, because “the fewer weapons supplied to Ukraine, the closer the end of the (war) is.”

The United States has been Ukraine’s biggest military backer since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022. Under Trump, there have been no new announcements of U.S. military or weapons aid to Ukraine.

Between March and April, the United States allocated no new aid to Ukraine, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute, which tracks such support.

For the first time since June 2022, European countries surpassed the U.S. in total military aid, totaling 72 billion euros ($85 billion) compared with 65 billion euros ($77 billion) from the U.S., the institute said last month.

Washington’s latest decision could remove some of the most formidable weapons in Ukraine’s battlefield arsenal.

Analysts say Ukraine’s European allies can fill some of the gaps and provide artillery systems. But they don’t possess alternatives to the U.S.-made HIMARS missiles and air defense systems, especially Patriots, which are crucial to help defend Ukrainian cities from Russian air attacks.

It’s not clear how much weaponry Ukraine possesses or what its most urgent needs are.