"Days before a new United States-led peace proposal diverted his attention, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens, where the two leaders announced plans to cooperate on the development and deployment of maritime unmanned systems. The following day, on November 17, he was in the French capital, Paris, announcing the co-production of Rafale multirole aircraft and interceptor drones, and the day after that, he was in the Spanish capital, Madrid, calling for co-production of precision-guided missiles."
"Other co-production agreements have been signed with Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. The current peace plan being proposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump, if anything, makes such weapons programmes even more urgent, say experts. None of the drafts that are currently circulating are going to be anything close to being enacted. So there is no peace plan, said Keir Giles, a Eurasia expert with Chatham House, a London-based think tank."
"However, if this is something we have to take seriously, then this makes Ukraine's situation incalculably worse, he told Al Jazeera. The whole point of the Russian proposals is to leave Ukraine defenceless against the next round of Russian attacks. Ukraine is even more reliant on whatever long-term agreements for bolstering its defence it can lock in as rapidly as possible, Giles said."
"As Ukraine weaves itself into the defence fabric of Europe, it is offering its combat experience and its battlefields as testing grounds for new systems, particularly unmanned systems. In return, it seeks to light the forges of long-dormant production to match Russia in scale. Ukraine is moving towards integrating all of its unmanned systems, Ukraine arms expert Olena Kryzhanivska told Al Jazeera, adding, either aerial, ground"
Ukraine has pursued co-production defence agreements with multiple European partners to develop maritime unmanned systems, co-produce Rafale multirole aircraft and interceptor drones, and manufacture precision-guided missiles. Agreements involve Greece, France, Spain, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. Proposed US-led peace plans are viewed as unlikely to be enacted, heightening urgency for durable defence arrangements. Keir Giles of Chatham House warned that Russian proposals aim to leave Ukraine defenceless, making rapid locking-in of production agreements essential. Ukraine is offering combat experience and battlefields as testing grounds for unmanned systems while seeking to revive industrial capacity to match Russia's scale.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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