Arms exports from Ukraine: When will they resume and what do industry players say?
The government is actively working to unblock arms exports; however, the first contracts are unlikely to be signed before the second half of 2026.
National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Secretary Rustem Umerov said this at a meeting focused on restoring Ukraine’s arms exports.
He explained that time is needed for testing, certification, and partners’ procurement procedures. At present, of the more than one thousand defense companies operating in Ukraine, fewer than half are ready to complete the required technical steps and obtain export licenses.
"Even under an optimistic scenario in which the state facilitates arms exports, we as Ukraine’s defense industry are already late.The point is that European countries’ requirements for weapons are very strict, and Ukrainian "combat-proven" alone will not suffice. It will take many months, if not years, to get through testing regimes and the process of adoption into service," said DEVIRO, a company that has been developing, designing and manufacturing unmanned aerial vehicles and related software since 2014.
The company argues that aligning Ukrainian weapons with European markets should have started much earlier: providing a roadmap to integrate arms makers into state programs with European investment, bringing defense sectors closer together, and maintaining continuous dialogue with partners through defense associations.
"Lately we have heard positive statements from state officials, but in practice we still do not see concrete action. We are losing time, while the enemy hunts our production sites and depots every day. Arms exports are not so much about money as about strengthening Ukraine on the international stage, enabling technological development, and surviving the most difficult period of our statehood," DEVIRO emphasized.
The topic of arms exports has stayed on the front pages of Ukrainian and international media since at least late 2024, when the state, the defense industry’s main customer, hit the ceiling of its financial capacity.
Recall that Ukraine’s arms exports halted in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Defense-industry companies shifted to meeting frontline needs. Before that, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Ukraine ranked 12th globally by arms-export volume, with a 0.9% share of the world market.
Legally, arms exports have not been banned in Ukraine. They simply are not functioning despite a formal, on-paper procedure. Companies complete all required checks but receive denials or no response at all.
Read more in Censor.NET’s Industry of Drones project: "Arms exports "for our own"? What lies behind president’s statements and what industry really expects."
