In particular, the meeting held at Ukraine House in Washington, DC, was attended by BAE Systems President Tom Arseneault, Day & Zimmermann Chair and CEO Harold Yoh, Boeing President Theodore Colbert, CEO of Sierra Nevada Corporation Fatih Ozmen, Northrop Grumman Vice President Stephen O’Bryan, RTX Vice President Jeff Shockey, Lockheed Martin Vice President Raymond Piselli, General Dynamics Vice President Mark Roualet, D&M Holding CEO Daniel Powers, AeroVironment Vice President Charles Dean.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the participation of these companies in the USA – Ukraine Defence Industrial Base Conference last week.
The President of Ukraine thanked all the employees of American defence companies who produce weapons that save Ukrainians and help Armed Forces of Ukraine defend the country.
“I want to thank all of you, as well as your partners. I would also like to say something important to your employees: you have done a lot for Ukraine. Without people like you, we would not be able to withstand and defend our land,” Zelenskyy said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about the idea of establishing a defence hub in Europe, which will be located in Ukraine, as country has a lot of practical experience gained through the war.
According to him, to implement this idea, Ukraine is ready to swiftly adopt all necessary decisions, cut red tape, and place orders.
“We are ready to act quickly, and we have already started to do so, since we have no other way to change the system as we are at war,” Zelenskyy noted.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine is ready and will produce more ammunition and military equipment, but it needs support from such powerful companies. Specifically, this refers to joint production of artillery ammunition, air defence systems, artillery and missile systems.
He said that Ukraine also intends to invite American partners to take a stake in Ukrainian defence companies, which would be in the interests of all parties involved.
In addition, Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted the importance of a creative and innovative approach in the defence industry, as exemplified by the FrankenSAM projects, which allowed the integration of modern Western and old Soviet technological solutions to achieve quick results in protecting cities and the lives of Ukrainian citizens.
