German and other European arms companies should increasingly establish operations in Ukraine, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said Thursday at a German-Ukrainian arms industry event.
Governments must now consider what is needed in the form of guarantees and financial support to encourage a trend that is already underway, said Habeck, who is Germany’s economy minister.
On Tuesday, German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall opened its first tank repair operation in Ukraine in cooperation with the Ukrainian government.
The company later announced that it would soon begin production of its Lynx infantry fighting vehicle in Ukraine.
Habeck said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked him at a recent meeting why the flow of military supplies from Germany was so slow. There was no good reason for that and more needed to be done, Habeck said.
Ukrainian Minister of Strategic Industry Oleksandr Kamyshin said two other German arms companies were active in Ukraine: tank manufacturer KNDS, formerly Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, and Flensburger Fahrzeugbau, which maintains and repairs old tanks.
Kamyshin emphasized the advantages of establishing German arms companies in Ukraine, saying: “It is faster, more efficient and cheaper.”
Kamyshin said that maintenance of large machine systems is currently well taken care of, and the goal now was to focus on smaller systems.
