Ukraine and the European Union have signed a "drone deal" to combine Kyiv's expertise with Europe's industrial capacity in order to boost production, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Wednesday. Her visit comes as Russian strikes killed six people and wounded at least 20 across Ukraine, according to regional authorities.
“We need to combine our strengths,” Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech in Kyiv at a ceremony to mark the country's Statehood Day. “This deal will bring together Ukrainian ingenuity and Europe’s industrial scale.”
Ukraine has signed a series of such deals with individual countries. At last week’s NATO summit in Akara, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed three more, saying that brought the total to nine.
But Wednesday’s deal is the first agreement intended to cover countries and companies across the European Union.
“The knowledge you have gained on how to work drone and anti-drone systems is truly unique,” von der Leyen said, addressing Zelensky.
“We must tap into this together. Because we know the threats that Europe faces in this area – we have seen incursions and alerts across many (EU) member states,” she added.
Von der Leyen said the EU could offer advantages to Ukraine such as “huge technological and industrial capacity” and “safe and secure production sites”.
Ukraine has developed a highly sophisticated drone industry after having only limited expertise in the sector when Russia invaded its smaller neighbour in February 2022.
Russia strikes Odesa and Sumy
Russian strikes killed six people and wounded at least 20 across Ukraine on Wednesday, regional authorities said.
The daytime attacks targeted industrial and medical facilities in the Black Sea port city of Odesa and in the northeastern city of Sumy, near the border with Russia.
"The enemy launched six guided aerial bombs," said Sumy regional governor Oleg Grygorov. "Three people were killed and 17 were wounded.
"Among the dead are a woman and a man," he added. "Another person sustained extremely severe injuries, making it currently impossible to determine their gender."
Odesa endured another day of Russian drone and missile attacks targeting its port and civilian infrastructure, the authorities there said.
"A massive combined missile and drone attack on the Odesa region has been ongoing for the fifth day in a row," said governor Oleg Kiper.
"Three people were killed, and at least three others were injured," he added.
Read moreJune was deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians in four years, UN says
Russia confirmed the attacks and said it hit a number of targets in the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk in Ukraine's Odesa region using precision-guided air-launched weapons and attack drones.
Port infrastructure facilities used for unloading fuel and lubricants as well as fuel storage tanks were hit, Russia said.
In a statement, Russia's defence ministry also said four vessels delivering cargoes for the Ukrainian armed forces were struck in the ports of Chornomorsk and Dnipro-Buh.
Russia in recent days has stepped up attacks on Ukraine's deepwater Black Sea ports in the Greater Odesa cluster, which are vital to foreign trade and the country's wartime economy.
Overnight on Tuesday, Ukrainian drones also struck 20 Russian vessels in the Black Sea overnight, including 17 oil tankers, the commander of Kyiv's drone forces said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the UN reported a sharp rise in civilian deaths through the first half of 2026, hitting a four-year-high in the month of June.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AFP)
