Kiev urges allies to help finance its drone production – DW – 11/16/2025

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha called on Ukraine’s supporters to help fund further increases in drone production.

Both Russia and Ukraine are using large numbers of drones in warfare, but neither side has disclosed exact figures for their drone production.

“The modern arms race is not about nuclear weapons – it is about millions of cheap drones,” the minister wrote. “Those who can rapidly increase production will secure peace.” sibiha wrote on x

Ukraine’s top diplomat said his country needs funding to compete in the drone arms race.

“If we get enough funding, we can produce up to 20 million drones next year,” he said.

Sibiha said Russian President Vladimir Putin would end the war only if he “loses the illusion that he can somehow ultimately win on the battlefield” and if the cost of continuing the war outweighs the cost of ending it.

“Collectively, the international community has enough capacity to force Russia to end this war,” Sibiha said. “We need a turn from ‘take as long as it takes’ to ‘be as strong as we can’.”

Cybiha said Ukraine and its allies are racing against time in terms of resources and technology, adding, “We need to gain parity and advantage to stop Putin from waging war.”

Ukraine and Greece signed a deal in Athens on Sunday for Kiev to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplied by the US from next month.

The agreement between Greece’s national gas company DEPA Commercial and Ukraine’s Naftogaz will run until March 2026.

According to the joint statement, the energy agreement is “an essential step towards strengthening regional energy cooperation and European energy security.”

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said relations between the two countries “are taking on an important new dimension: that of a new secure energy artery, extending from south to north, from Greece to Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, Zelensky thanked US President Donald Trump for the fact that we will be able to get natural gas not only from Greece, but also through Greece.

In a post on X, the Ukrainian president wrote about the winter challenges facing Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

“I am very pleased that over the past few months we have been working on bilateral agreements with Greece to support Ukraine’s energy security. And we have achieved good results,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday announced major changes to state-owned energy companies amid the biggest corruption scandal to rock the country since the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022.

According to investigators, approximately $100 million (€86 million) was embezzled from energy companies, sparking widespread public outrage.

Read more about Ukraine’s energy corruption scandal.

The Russian army is known for killing, torturing, and treating its own recruits horribly.

Tatjana Bykova expressed grief in a video message, saying, “They killed my child.” She uses the word “canceled” to describe how her son, Andrzej, was executed by Russian military commanders.

In October 2025, independent Russian media outlets verstka Launched a project to expose widespread torture and so-called “extinction” – a colloquial term for the killing of comrades in the Russian military.

Read more to learn how such behavior becomes acceptable in the military.

The Russian army on Sunday claimed to have captured two more villages in southern Ukraine.

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Telegram that its troops had captured Rivnopilia and Maly Tokmachka in the Zaporizhia region, where Moscow has stepped up attacks.

Russian forces said on Saturday they had seized the village of Yablyukovo in Zaporizhia, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which is currently occupied by Russia, Russian news agencies reported.

The claims cannot be independently verified.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he would sign a deal with Greece on gas imports to help meet the country’s winter needs.

“Today, we have already prepared an agreement with Greece on gas for Ukraine, which will be another gas supply route to secure imports for the winter as much as possible,” he said in a statement on Telegram.

“We already have agreements in place to finance gas imports – and we will cover the approximately €2 billion ($2.3 billion) needed for gas imports to compensate for losses in Ukrainian production due to the Russian attacks,” he said.

This statement of Zelensky came before his European tour. He is expected to leave for Greece on Sunday, from where he will travel to France and Spain.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Finnish President Alexander Stubb cautioned that a ceasefire in Ukraine was unlikely before spring of next year.

“I’m not very optimistic about achieving a ceasefire or starting peace talks, at least this year,” Stubb told the AP on Saturday. He said it would be nice to “get something done” by March.

Stubb highlighted three major obstacles to a ceasefire: security guarantees for Ukraine, economic reforms and common ground on territorial claims.

On bringing peace to Ukraine, the Finnish leader stressed that President Donald Trump and European leaders need to put maximum pressure on Russia and President Vladimir Putin.

Putin “fundamentally wants to deny Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

While Stubb praised Trump for imposing new sanctions on two major Russian oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, in October, he argued that more should be done to prevent Kiev from influencing Russia’s “military or defense industry.”

He also urged European leaders to increase financial and military aid to Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev was working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could secure the release of 1,200 Ukrainians.

“We are… counting on the resumption of POW exchanges,” Zelensky posted on Twitter. “There are many meetings, conversations and calls currently taking place to ensure this happens.”

His security chief Rustam Umerov said on Saturday he had consulted with Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates on resuming exchanges.

“As a result of these talks, the parties agreed to return to the Istanbul Agreements,” he said. “This concerns the release of 1,200 Ukrainians,” Umerov said in a statement on Telegram.

The Istanbul Agreement, brokered by Turkey, outlines guidelines for a large-scale, coordinated prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine in 2022.

Moscow and Kiev have exchanged thousands of prisoners since then, but the exchanges have been sporadic.

“We are working non-stop so that Ukrainians returning from captivity can celebrate New Year and Christmas at home – at the family table and with their loved ones,” Umerov said.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow on Ukraine’s statements.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev was working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could secure the release of 1,200 Ukrainians.

The statement comes ahead of Zelensky’s European tour, which will begin on Sunday with the signing of a deal with Greece on gas imports.

Meanwhile, Finnish President Alexander Stubb warned in an interview that a ceasefire was unlikely to happen soon.

Stay tuned for the latest developments and analysis of the ongoing war.