At the Fabrique de la diplomatie event (5–6 September, Paris), organized by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the Eastern Circles Discussion Club, TDC’s EU Cooperation Programme Coordinator, Marianna Fakhurdinova, delivered a presentation on how Europe can rebuild its defence capacity and the crucial role Ukraine can play in this effort. Eastern Circles founder Anastasia Shapochkina joined as a co-speaker.
Key insights of the event:
- Europe still heavily depends on the United States for strategic systems — from long-range missiles to air defence systems, autonomous platforms, and next-generation aircraft.
- Despite previous EU initiatives (ASAP, EDIRPA, R&D funds), the budgets remained far too small — €8 billion over eight years, €300 million for joint procurement, €500 million for ammunition — while as of 2020, 78% of EU defence procurement was carried out outside Europe.
- To change this, the EU has launched the SAFE instrument — €150 billion in loans to boost defence production; 19 Member States have already expressed interest.
Ukraine can become a driving force of this transformation because it:
- Has battlefield-tested experience with rapid operational feedback through the Test in Ukraine initiative.
- Offers competitive production costs — significantly lower than the EU average, making it attractive for joint projects.
- Has rapidly scaled up production — from €1 billion to €35 billion since 2022, already covering 40% of its own needs.
Integrating Ukraine’s fast and adaptive defence sector could help the EU scale up production, reduce dependencies, and align procurement with the real demands of war — shifting from preparing for hypothetical wars of 2030 to winning the battles of today.
Ukraine should not only be supported — it can help Europe defend itself.
