The West is struggling to give Ukraine the weapons it needs — but there may be a solution

Ukraine’s European allies are financing the production of weapons using the “Danish Model.”

Ukraine’s European allies, hampered by low military production capacity, have been struggling to produce the weapons needed for Kyiv to fight against Russia.

An increasing number are now financing Ukrainian government contracts with Ukrainian weapons manufacturers to make up the shortfall, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The move has been termed the “Danish Model” after Denmark began giving Ukraine aid to boost its defense manufacturing capacity earlier this year.

Those in favor of the model say that Ukraine is able to create weapons better suited to its needs at a lower cost than Western countries, the Journal reported.

Ukraine already has a strong weapons manufacturing industry. An Institute for the Study of War report said Ukraine’s defense industry employed 300,000 workers within about 500 different companies in 2023.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month that the country’s defense companies can now produce 4 million drones annually.

By contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this year that Moscow intended to ramp up drone production tenfold to around 1.4 million a year.

“Ukraine was the heart of the Soviet defense industrial base, so they have a lot of know-how when it comes to manufacturing complex systems,” Eric Ciaramella, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment’s Russia and Eurasia Program, told the Journal.

He added that supporting Ukraine’s defense industry lets the West help ensure Ukraine is self-sufficient.

Last week, Denmark made a new donation of $138 million for the development of Ukraine’s arms industry, according to Reuters.

Sweden, Lithuania, and Norway have also recently provided money in this way, and other nations could soon follow, according to the Journal.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly expressed frustration with delays in military aid from Ukraine’s Western allies, on whom is dependent for advanced weapons like Patriot and Storm Shadow missiles.

“Every decision to which we, then later everyone together, comes to is late by around one year,” he told Reuters in May.

As B-17 reported earlier this week, the West has focused on the quality of military equipment over stockpiles, prioritizing high-tech and specialized gear over volume.

However, the Ukraine war has shown that both are needed. That has prompted a surge in weaponry manufacturing which some experts fear will still fall short.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this month that Biden “has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door” before Trump’s inauguration on January 20.