UK Defense Secretary John Healey said this at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels on Wednesday, October 15, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.
Healey noted that the cooperation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom demonstrates that supporting Ukraine's defense industry is not only a direct way to bolster its defense efforts but also "a way that we can combine in the case of Octopus, it's a way of combining the innovation from Ukraine, the combat experience directly from the battlefield with the modern design and mass manufacturing techniques that we can bring to bear from Great Britain."
Read also: Healey on arms for Ukraine: UK not joining PURL yet but reviewing initiative closelyHe explained that this approach will help increase the supply of weaponry that Ukraine needs.
"We can also gear the Ukrainian industry and Ukrainian companies to be able to service the Western market at the point of peace," Healey said.
In addition to deepening cooperation today, such efforts also lay the groundwork for the postwar future, he added.
When asked whether Ukraine is now viewed as a factor contributing to European security, Healey replied: "The simple answer is yes."
"When I argue that a secure Europe requires a strong sovereign Ukraine, [I mean that] Ukraine is teaching us in the way that we can see the rapid evolution of the nature of warfare, the leading edge innovation and battlefield techniques. For some time we have been able to learn from Ukraine," he said.
The minister added that Ukraine is "increasingly recognized and understood to play a part in the training of other NATO nations' forces."
Healey also noted that in response to recent airspace incursions over NATO territory, "Ukraine has stepped up and responded in practice."
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