Zelenskyy instructed to increase funding for brigades to buy drones

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed to increase funding for the brigades to purchase drones, which the day before, I spoke with units in the Kharkiv region. This is the message of the head of state published after meetings with the military command, government officials, and a meeting of the Supreme commander-in-chief's Staff.

"I have instructed to significantly increase direct funding to brigades for the purchase of drones. There is money for this," Zelenskyy said.

The president also noted that there should be more real combat experience of this war during the training of defenders: "Indeed, training in training centers has already become more effective, but there are still things that need to be implemented. This concerns both combat training and psychological and motivational training."

Another requirement discussed by most brigades is the significant increase in opportunities to purchase pickups procedures – need to be simplified and direct financing provided, as is the case with the purchase of drones, the president noted.

"Our soldiers should have a real opportunity to buy exactly the vehicles they need, in the way that will be fastest," he added.

In addition, the president announced the expansion of the program of special contracts for military service: "Today we discussed some options, including raising the age [from 24 years] and the circumstances under which this particular contract format can be concluded."

The head of state also noted that it is necessary to digitize the sphere of awarding Ukrainian defenders: "Unfortunately, there are many cases when our soldiers from different components of the Defense Forces wait for months to receive state awards, and this is solely due to cumbersome bureaucratic procedures. I have instructed to reduce the document flow, the number of various signatures and approvals as much as possible."

Zelenskyy noted that the deadline for presenting ways to implement these points is Monday, August 11.

• The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stated that in 2025 plans to purchase 4.5 million FPV drones for the army.
• At the same time, in the spring, AFU commanders reported problems with the supply of FPV drones from the state: in particular, Colonel Biletskyi reported that the Third Assault Brigade has not received a single UAV of this type from the Defense Ministry in three months. In the department replied that it was transferring drones, but did not specify whether they were FPVs. After the publicity, the delivery took place, but it did not solve the systemic problem, claimed in June by the BBC.
• In late July, the Defense Procurement Agency of MoD reported that delivered more than 1 million FPV drones to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in seven months.