Ukraine makes weapons “faster and cheaper” than anywhere else in Europe – this is a problem, Danish Prime Minister warned

• The Danish prime minister said Ukraine could make weapons “faster and cheaper” than elsewhere in Europe.

• “We have a problem if one country in the war has a faster production capacity than the rest of us,” Mette Frederiksen said at the Munich Security Conference.

• Defence spending in Europe has soared in recent years, but the problem remains.

The Danish Prime Minister said Ukraine was able to produce weapons in war than Europe than anywhere else in Europe, which she said should shock the West.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen spoke at the Munich security conference on Saturday, warning that Europe must step up production and cooperate with the United States.

“Friends, we have a problem if one country in war is produced faster than the rest of us,” she said. “I’m not saying we’re in war, but we can’t say we’re already in peacetime. So, We need to change our mindset.”

Frederiksen added that Europe needs a “sense of urgency” and that legislation and bureaucracy must be reduced to ensure that Ukraine “will get what they need, while also ensuring that we can protect ourselves.”

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine has been increasing domestic weapons production, thus producing more and more homemade products such as missiles, howitzers and drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously said that 30% of the military equipment used by Ukraine in 2024 are domestically made.

Denmark pioneered a major project to build more weapons in Ukraine, giving Frederiksen a special understanding of Ukraine’s production efforts.

Although Frederiksen did not point out specific numbers, Ukraine’s defense industry flourished in some regions, matching or even surpassing Europe.

On the battlefield, the widespread use of drones has made Ukraine a leader in drone production, Kiev said the country produced more than 1.5 million first-person perspective drones in 2024.

Ukraine also said it had manufactured 2.5 million mortars and shells from January to November 2024, while the EU said it would manufacture about 2 million shells by 2025.

Europe has greatly increased its defense spending and output in recent years, but some officials say more needs to be done.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Duville Šakalienė told Munich business insiders that “Europe needs to raise our defense spending very quickly and very clearly so that we can stand on an equal footing with the United States.”

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also talked about the issue over the weekend, saying: “Critics are right, we have to do more, and we did it in the past few years. Too little, too little.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also frequently calls on European members of the coalition to increase military spending.

He said in Munich that the United States was “right” and believed that “we must strengthen, we must spend more money.”

He added that both the United States and Europe were “underproduction” and Russia produced more than NATO in three months than NATO in a year.

However, Vice President JD Vance also appeared in Munich, seemingly unmoved to Europe’s commitment and used his speech to attack his alleged violation of freedom of speech in Europe. Vance said Europe’s plan to increase its defense spending is “great”, but he is more concerned about threats to Europe “inside” than Russia.

For his part, Trump has long called on Europe to spend more on defense, threatening to leave NATO, and he will allow Russia to attack NATO members even before he is re-elected, which is not enough to spend enough money to defend. .

Some countries have taken an important step to increase spending. In 2024, Poland led the coalition of defense spending, which accounted for a percentage of GDP, and Warsaw invested more than 4% of its economic output.

Both Lithuania and Estonia have pledged to increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP, saying that although they agree with Trump’s request, they are not following the step because of the president, but because of the Russian threat.

But the future of the United States-European Union seems to be in danger, not just defense spending. Trump’s team in recent days has shown that Europe may occupy the negotiations between Russia and the United States on Ukraine, and that Ukraine can regain all the territory occupied by Russia, which is “unrealistic”.

Despite the heightened tensions, many leaders in Munich said there is still an opportunity to continue working with the United States to fight Moscow.

Iceland’s Prime Minister Kristún Mjöll Frostadóttir said it was “easy to be a negative for the U.S.-European relations” and called the situation “discomfortable” because Ukraine’s sovereignty was threatened. But “this doesn’t mean that relationships with the United States have to be bad,” she continued.

Šakalienė added that although Trump has a “unique” and “unexpected” negotiation strategy, it is not necessarily a negative thing that “breaching the rules is not suitable for Russia.”

As many other European officials said on the weekend, the United States also needs Europe and its capabilities as an ally, she continues.

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