Ukraine's Zelenskiy boosts funding for drone deployment

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he had issued orders to increase funding for equipping the country's brigades with new drones.

Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said he had received a report from Pavlo Palisa, a former military commander and the president's newly-appointed deputy chief of staff, to provide additional funding for drones.

"We recently approved a decision about the amount of such direct funds. But now I see that the amount is insufficient," Zelenskiy said.

"I instructed the prime minister to increase financing for brigades in the coming days, to increase several times over."

Zelenskiy has increasingly focused on the deployment of drones in the war, which has extended over 33 months since Russia invaded in February 2022.

In October, the president said Ukraine had already contracted to produce 1.5 million drones this year and was capable of ramping up production to four million annually.

Drone production was virtually non-existent in Ukraine before Russia's invasion in February 2022.