Thirteen “prominent” weapons manufacturers have signed a declaration which will form the basis for an “alliance of defense industries,” an international coalition of arms producers Ukraine is creating in a bid to stem Russia’s invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told participants at an arms-focused event in Kyiv on Friday, without providing details. Any weapons maker “that shares our intention to provide real protection from aggression in these current risky circumstances” could join the alliance, he said.
Ukraine is taking steps to ramp up arms production, including a plan to provide economic relief to weapons manufacturers and create a fund to finance military spending with dividends paid by the state-run defense companies and revenues from sales of confiscated Russia’s assets, Zelenskiy said. France, among others, has promoted the establishment of multiple industrial partnerships after a visit to Kyiv by its armed forces minister this week. Defense companies from over 30 countries attended Friday’s forum.
Russia attacked Ukraine with drones overnight and hit some infrastructure object in the central Vinnytsia region, local authorities said. Ukrainian state railway company said a number of trains are delayed as a result of the attack. Russia’s defense ministry said air defense systems destroyed shells from a Hurricane multiple rocket launcher system aimed at the Belgorod region. Power supplies were disrupted in a village near Bryansk after a Ukrainian strike there, regional authorities said.
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Markets
Wheat futures tumbled to a three-year low after the USDA showed domestic production and quarterly stockpiles were bigger than analysts expected - and more broadly, amid booming harvests in Russia and other key producers.
Oil posted its largest quarterly rally since the initial jolt from the war in Ukraine as lower Russian fuel exports threaten to further tighten a market wrestling with OPEC+ production cuts. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said recent market prices for Russian oil suggest that the G-& price cap is no longer working as hoped.
