April 9, 2025: Over the last three years of war in Ukraine, NATO countries have supplied about $85 billion a year in military and commercial assistance. Initially most of this aid came from the United States. Gradually European nations expanded their own arms production and assisted Ukrainian arms producers in rebuilding local armaments facilities. This meant more of the military aid was coming from European countries and less from the United States. Ukraine has long been a major arms producer but the Russians have destroyed some of these arms production operations since the 2022 invasion.

During the first few months of the Russian invasion Ukrainian producers supplied their military with the needed weapons and munitions. Russia responded while destroying many of those arms manufacturing facilities with missiles and airstrikes. By 2023 most of the arms and munitions were imported from the United States and NATO countries. European nations believe that expanding their own arms industries improves their ability to deter any future aggression from Russia.

Eleven years ago Ukraine hampered Russian arms production by halting shipments of vital components for Russian helicopters and warships. Although only 4.4 percent of Russian imports were from Ukraine, some of these items were crucial for Russian weapons producers and Russian efforts to modernize their armed forces.

The links between production facilities concentrated in Ukraine dates back to when Ukraine was a region of the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union collapsed into fourteen new nations in 1991, Ukraine and its arms industry were not part of the new Russian Federation. This meant Russia was now dependent on Ukraine for key items like components for aircraft, missiles, ICBMs and warship engines.

The largest and most productive Ukrainian defense manufacturer was Motor Sich which produces engines for helicopters. Many of the Soviet era shipyards were located in the Crimean Peninsula. After 1991 Crimea belonged to Ukraine. Russia refused to let Ukraine take possession of Crimea and grabbed it back in 2014. Russian shipyards still operate in Crimea although these facilities have been damaged by persistent Ukrainian attacks, and Crimean ports are avoided by Russian shipping due to UAV attacks.

For years Russia has been building factories locally to reduce dependence on those located in Ukraine and Crimea. The economic sanctions imposed on Russia after they invaded Ukraine in 2022 further complicated Russian plans to rebuild their arms industries. Russia has managed to maintain defense production, but quality and quantity have suffered. Russian producers depended on key components imported from Western Europe. The sanctions cut off that source and Russia has tried to replace it with manufacturers in China and a few other countries. They were partially successful but Russian defense production will not recover completely until the war in Ukraine is over.