The European Union will allocate 1 billion euros for Ukrainian drones and launches a new format of defense cooperation, Drone Deal.. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced this during a joint press conference with Vladimir Zelensky in Kyiv, Suspilne reports..

According to von der Leyen, the new funding will be part of the 90 billion euro support program for Ukraine, designed for 2026–2027. The President of the European Commission also announced that the European Commission approved the distribution of funding to increase the production of drones and missiles.

Ukraine and the EU also signed a defense agreement, the Drone Deal, which provides for the combination of Ukrainian combat experience in the field of unmanned systems with European technologies and production capabilities. This is expected to accelerate the joint development and production of advanced drones.

“Ukraine is moving from being a buyer of arms to being a supplier of European security,” said Ursula von der Leyen, highlighting the growing role of the Ukrainian defense industry and its integration with the European defense sector.

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The European Union has been expanding funding for Ukrainian defense production for several months under a €90 billion loan program..

In June, Brussels announced the first tranche of funding, part of which was provided for the defense needs of Ukraine.

At the same time, the EU is consistently developing cooperation with the Ukrainian defense industry in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles. Previously, the European Commission has already reported on the financing of UAV technologies, and recently Kyiv has been actively promoting the Drone Deal format, which provides for financing of Ukrainian manufacturers from partners and the joint production of modern unmanned systems.