Ukraine needs any edge it can get to repel Russia from its territory. One emerging bright spot is its small but fast-growing defense industry, which the government is flooding with money in hopes that a surge of homemade weapons and ammunition can help turn the tide.
The effort ramped up sharply over the past year as the U.S. and Europe strained to deliver weapons and other aid to Ukraine, which is up against a much bigger Russian military backed by a thriving domestic defense industry.
The Ukrainian government budgeted nearly $1.4 billion in 2024 to buy and develop weapons at home — 20 times more than before Russia’s full-scale invasion.
And in another major shift, a huge portion of weapons are now being bought from privately owned factories. They are sprouting up across the country and rapidly taking over an industry that had been dominated by state-owned companies.
Is this “homemade”, or “domestically manufactured”? Homemade suggests some guy in his garage making shoddy AKs, while the Ukrainian defence industry manufactures tanks, cruise missiles and more. The Moskva was sunk by a Ukrainian guided anti-ship cruise missile, and they have tanks that are up to par with modern Russian ones.
Why not both
While probably not the majority of production, I’ve seen media portraying some drone manufacturing and retooling being done on a small scale, many by individuals.