The West is struggling to give Ukraine the weapons it needs — but there may be a solution

• Western allies are reported to be adopting the "Danish model" to fund Ukraine's arms industry.
• Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Lithuania have provided money in this way, The Wall Street Journal said.
• Those in favor say it will help make Ukraine self-sufficient in the long term.

Ukraine's European allies, hampered by low military production capacity, have been struggling to produce the weapons needed for Kyiv to fight against Russia.

An increasing number are now financing Ukrainian government contracts with Ukrainian weapons manufacturers to make up the shortfall, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The move has been termed the "Danish Model" after Denmark began giving Ukraine aid to boost its defense manufacturing capacity earlier this year.

Those in favor of the model say Ukraine is able to create weapons better suited to its needs at a lower cost than Western countries, the Journal reported.

Ukraine already has a strong weapons manufacturing industry. An Institute for the Study of War report said Ukraine's defense industry employed 300,000 workers within about 500 different companies in 2023.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month that the country's defense companies could now produce 4 million drones annually.

By contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this year that Moscow intended to ramp up drone production tenfold to about 1.4 million a year.

"Ukraine was the heart of the Soviet defense industrial base, so they have a lot of know-how when it comes to manufacturing complex systems," Eric Ciaramella, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment's Russia and Eurasia program, told the Journal.

Supporting Ukraine's defense industry lets the West help ensure Ukraine is self-sufficient, he added.

Last week, Denmark made a new donation of $138 million for the development of Ukraine's arms industry, Reuters reported.

Sweden, Lithuania, and Norway have also recently provided money in this way, and other nations could soon follow, the Journal reported.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly expressed frustration with delays in military aid from Ukraine's Western allies, on whom it's dependent for advanced weapons such as Patriot and Storm Shadow missiles.

"Every decision to which we, then later everyone together, comes to is late by around one year," he told Reuters in May.

As Business Insider's Sinéad Baker reported earlier this week, the West has focused on the quality of military equipment over stockpiles, prioritizing high-tech and specialized gear over volume.

But the Ukraine war has shown that both are needed. That has prompted a surge in weaponry manufacturing that some experts fear will still fall short.

Russia has also sourced weapons, troops, and ammunition from allies, with North Korea having provided about 8 million artillery shells and about 10,000 soldiers.

The US has meanwhile accused China of providing dual-use goods for Russia's military industry to overcome sanctions. Reuters reported in September that Russia also had a drone factory in China for the war.

Russia's advantages in manpower and equipment have enabled it to make slow but important gains in east Ukraine in recent weeks.

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