Italy and France officially become members of the drone coalition

Italy and France officially joined the drone coalition for Ukraine established by Latvia by signing the Letter of Intent during the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) meeting on 13-14 June in Brussels, Belgium.

“We highly welcome decision of Italy and France to join the drone coalition for Ukraine, thus yet again reaffirming the commitment of NATO member states to secure Ukraine’s victory. Official membership of Italy and France in drone coalition is a substantial step that will bring the coalition closer to its ambitious goals,” Andris Sprūds, Latvia’s defence minister, underlined.

With new members coalition now officially has 14 participating countries: Latvia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, France, Canada, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany and Sweden, with Czech Republic ready to join soon. Coalition is open to new member states. Members of the drone coalition have so far raised more than €500 million, which will be spent to deliver drones to Ukraine.

While in Brussels, Minister Sprūds also took part in Meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence. As minister remarked regarding regional security, Latvia and its Baltic counterparts are currently making targeted investments in their defence to secure NATO’s external border towards east.

“Latvia is already spending more than 3% of its GDP on defence. Largest share of these investments are aimed at enhancing our military capabilities.  Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are heavily investing in various defence projects. We are jointly working on common Baltic defence zone initiative (Baltic Defence Line), which will further secure the eastern border of the Baltics and NATO, preventing enemy movement and ensuring that every inch of Baltics is defended. This initiative is not limited to Baltics – Poland also intends to significantly enhance its border counter-mobility measures,” Minister Sprūds explained.

Meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence was also aligned with NATO-Ukraine Council meeting, which focused on further NATO and EU support for Ukraine, as well as current security situation in Ukraine.

Defence Minister Sprūds also attended NATO Nuclear Planning Group meeting. During the meeting, officials discussed Alliance’s nuclear deterrence policy, which aims to deter any potential aggression and secure lasting peace.
As announced earlier, Andris Sprūds, Defence Minister of Latvia, paid a working visit to Brussels on 13-14 June to take part in the Meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence.

MoD Military Public Affairs Department
Media Relations Section
Phone: 67335393
E-mail: prese@mod.gov.lv