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Helsinki and Kyiv agreed Wednesday to cooperate on drone production and technology transfer, a deal signed on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York as Kyiv continues to seek expanded military support from Western allies.
The agreement was signed by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It provides for joint drone manufacturing and allows for the transfer of related technology between the two countries.
Speaking at a press conference, Stubb said the accord would involve joint production efforts and suggested that Ukraine could be interested in manufacturing drones in Finland, where production might be "more efficient and cheaper."
The Finnish president framed the agreement as serving a dual purpose, benefiting Ukraine's defense needs while also building up Finland's own military capabilities.
"Ukraine needs all our support in its fight. At the same time, the cooperation is mutually beneficial," Stubb wrote on social media, adding that Helsinki is "strengthening our own capabilities" by learning from Ukraine's battlefield experience.
The signing took place during the UN General Assembly's annual high-level session in New York, which draws world leaders for a week of speeches and sidelines diplomacy.
Ukraine has used past General Assembly gatherings to press allies for continued military and financial backing more than three and a half years into Russia's full-scale invasion of the country.
Finland, which shares a roughly 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, joined NATO in April 2023 in response to the invasion, ending decades of military non-alignment.
The country has since positioned itself among the more vocal European backers of Kyiv's defense effort.
Drone warfare has featured prominently in the war, with both Ukraine and Russia relying heavily on unmanned aerial systems for reconnaissance and strikes, driving demand among Kyiv's allies for expanded drone manufacturing capacity.
Neither government immediately released further details on the scale of the planned cooperation, production timelines, or the value of the agreement.
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