One EU country has allocated €20 million for joint arms production with Ukraine.

Lithuania has announced an investment of 20 million euros in the development of Ukraine's defense industry and has initiated the creation of joint production facilities for weapon manufacturing.

This was reported by LRT, citing a statement from the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense.

The Ministry of Defense emphasized its intention to continue actively supporting Ukraine by investing in the Ukrainian defense industry.

“Ukraine's defense industry has incredible potential to become a global player due to its high level of knowledge, based on direct combat experience, the motivation and competence of engineers, as well as the foresight of key decision-makers in the sector,” stated Lithuania's Minister of Defense, Arvydas Anušauskas.

According to her, Lithuania will continue to invest in the Ukrainian defense industry by purchasing goods from Ukraine.

“A budget of 20 million euros has already been allocated for these purposes, and this amount will increase. However, we aim for even closer cooperation – to develop joint Lithuanian-Ukrainian arms production both in Lithuania and Ukraine,” the minister said.

It is noted that, for security reasons, specific types of weapons covered by the agreement are not disclosed. In the coming weeks, joint meetings of representatives from Lithuania and Ukraine will take place in Lithuania, where the implementation of the agreement and further steps for developing cooperation in the defense sector will be discussed.

The Minister of Defense stated that a preliminary agreement on weapon production was reached with the advisor to the President of Ukraine on strategic issues, Oleksandr Kamyshin, and the Minister for Strategic Industries, Herman Smetanyn.

As known, in February, the Ministry of Defense allowed the use of more than 100 units of equipment and weapons in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Additionally, it was reported that unknown individuals attempted to burn a shipment of military aid for Ukraine in Lithuania.

Recently, Lithuania raised over 5 million euros for drones for the Ukrainian army.