Latvia: ‘Impossible’ for Ukraine to defeat Russia without increased European drone production

Northern European countries must significantly boost military drone production to help Ukraine defeat Russia, Latvia’s Prime Minister has said, warning that victory would be “impossible” without greater support.

Speaking ahead of a Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) summit in Helsinki, attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said more drones were urgently needed.

“We need to manufacture and produce more… without those capabilities, I think it’s impossible now to win the war,” she told reporters in the Finnish capital.

Siliņa also said Ukraine’s allies must press ahead with further sanctions against Moscow and continue targeting Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of unregistered tankers, used to bypass Western restrictions and export oil at market prices.

“Already we can see that those economic issues for Russia are very very tough,” she added.

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Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten echoed her remarks, urging JEF countries to “team up with Ukraine” to boost drone production.

He warned that rising tensions in the Middle East could divert resources away from Ukraine.

“The war with Iran and the bigger escalation in the Middle East is a threat to Ukraine because we are spending so much now in the Middle East,” he said. 

The JEF is a U.K.-led military partnership of 10 northern European countries, all of them NATO members. Leaders at the Helsinki summit are discussing the Ukraine-Russia war, North Atlantic security and the future of the alliance. 

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Ahead of the meeting, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that the West was facing a “war on two fronts.”

“There’s the Iranian conflict and the continuing Ukrainian conflict,” he said.

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