EU must accelerate defense production to contain Russia — Kubilius

The European Union is significantly lagging behind Russia in arms production and must urgently increase the capacity of the military-industrial complex. This was stated by European Commissioner Andrius Kubilius during a speech in the European Parliament, emphasizing that in order to effectively deter the aggressor, Europe must not only invest, but also radically increase production volumes.

According to him, the imbalance is critical: Russia produces many times more cruise missiles, ammunition and armored vehicles every year, while in some segments, in particular ballistic missiles, the EU does not have its own production at all. This situation, Kubilius emphasized, creates strategic risks for the security of the continent.

The European Commissioner also called on European defense companies to change their approach: along with high-tech but expensive products, it is necessary to develop mass production of more affordable weapons. In this context, he cited Ukraine as an example of the effective adaptation of the defense industry to war conditions.

According to Kubilius, if the European military-industrial complex is unable to quickly increase production, the EU will be forced to seek alternative solutions, in particular, deepening cooperation with Ukraine to achieve parity or advantage over Russia.