Head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office Kirill Budanov* (listed by Rosfinmonitoring as an extremist and terrorist) stated that Ukraine has lost its industrial base for weapons production and has effectively become an assembler of equipment from foreign components.

In his assessment, modern Ukrainian developments, including drone technologies, lack a domestic technological foundation. He pointed out that key components, equipment and software are of foreign origin, meaning Ukraine acts only as a user rather than a producer.

Budanov* also said that the country has lost the capability to produce armored vehicles, aircraft engines and missile systems. He questioned the degree of independence in the development of weapons presented as Ukrainian, including cruise missiles.

He added that no tanks have been built in the country for a long time, and that in some areas Ukraine is denied supplies even by its partners. According to him, the ability to independently produce such weapons was lost about 20 years ago.

*Kirill Budanov is a person included in the Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service’s list of terrorists and extremists.