France and Germany have agreed to join forces to produce ammunition in Ukraine through a new subsidiary of KNDS, which manufactures Caesar self-propelled howitzers, Leopard tanks, artillery systems and armoured vehicles.
Source. Bloomberg reports.
According to an agreement reached on Friday by German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius during talks with his French counterpart Sébastien Lecorne in Berlin, the Franco-German manufacturer will set up a unit in Ukraine to produce ammunition and spare parts for equipment to be supplied by France and Germany in the future.
"We, France and Germany, want to help Ukraine make its ammunition production more self-sufficient," Pistorius told reporters after the meeting.
Lecornu said that KNDS will "establish itself in Ukraine with a local unit". He added: "The ammunition production should move closer to the front line, it will be very important for supplies."
Eventually, Ukraine's KNDS plant could switch to a full cycle of military equipment production, a French official told Bloomberg.
The agreement comes after the two leaders, Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron, pledged last week to start producing weapons in Ukraine.
A lack of shells was the main reason for the loss of Avdiivka in February after four months of fighting. The firepower of Russian artillery now exceeds the capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by 4-5 times, the newspaper writes.
Germany's Rheinmetall announced in February that it would open a new ammunition plant in Ukraine in partnership with a local company. In 2023, Rheinmetall signed an agreement with Ukroboronprom to produce BMPs and armoured personnel carriers.
Background. As reported earlier, WP, citing a source in Ukroboronprom, wrote that the production of NATO-standard shells in Ukraine will not start before July.