EU Defense Commissioner Kubilius ready for 'missile tour' to accelerate deliveries to Ukraine

European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius has declared his readiness to embark on a so-called "missile tour" to discuss increasing production and the rapid transfer of missiles to Ukraine with industrialists and governments across Europe.

"We truly understand the problem. We have visited missile manufacturers here—they are very strong and high-quality, and Europe can learn a lot from Ukrainians," Kubilius said in an exclusive blitz interview with Interfax-Ukraine during his visit to Kyiv.

At the same time, the European Commissioner emphasized that Ukraine’s air defense requires missiles produced in European countries or the United States.

"I am ready to go on a so-called ‘missile tour’—to visit all European plants producing missiles and talk to industrialists about whether they can significantly increase production to realistically meet Ukraine’s needs. We also must hold negotiations with governments regarding the possibility of ‘opening’ their missile stockpiles so that Ukraine can receive them very quickly, later replenishing these stocks through increased production," the commissioner stressed. He added that "this is one of the priorities we are focusing on."

Kubilius also highlighted Ukraine’s unique experience in anti-ballistic defense. "We understand that Ukrainians have very specific knowledge—for example, in the field of anti-ballistic defense. It is a challenge that Russia is modernizing its ballistic missiles to change trajectory in flight, and traditional systems like Patriot, SAMP/T, or IRIS-T have some problems intercepting these Russian ballistic missiles. Cooperation between Ukrainian manufacturers, defense experts, and European missile manufacturers will be extremely important, as anti-ballistic defense also needs to be modernized at the European and Western level," he stated.

According to the commissioner, ramping up missile production is one of the main challenges for Europe in the context of supporting Ukraine.