The national armed forces of Latvia will develop technology for unmanned aircraft and will invest 20 million euros in it, Defense Minister Andris Spruds revealed, quoted by AFP.
"Seeing how important unmanned aerial vehicles are in military operations and guided by Ukraine's experience, we can announce the launch of the initiative this year.
Metaphorically, we can talk about building an army of drones," said Andris Spruds.
According to the minister, this means that Latvia will not only supply unmanned aerial vehicles to Ukraine, but will also implement them more actively in its own armed forces.
The country, along with the United Kingdom, is leading a coalition that aims to supply Kiev with thousands of unmanned aerial vehicles. At the end of April, Spruds announced that almost 500 million euros had been collected for this purpose.
At the same time, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that his country, together with Latvia, will increase the production of unmanned aircraft within the framework of the coalition.
Russian authorities have condemned Western countries for supplying arms to Ukraine, saying it shows their involvement in the conflict.
A few days ago, Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotait announced that his country had agreed with Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Finland and Poland to form a new infrastructure using drones for border security.
The "wall of drones" is being planned. to be created at the expense of the European Union, and the countries also intend to jointly practice evacuation of the population.