NATO is planning to expand cooperation with Ukraine on defense technology and share more intelligence about Russia’s electronic warfare capabilities, as some of its members lift constraints on Kyiv’s ability to wage war, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.
The conflict has pushed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to devote more resources to cybersecurity deterrence and tracking Russia’s military tech, Assistant Secretary-General David van Weel told journalists this week.
“Ukrainians are innovating at a very high speed,” he said Tuesday in Krakow, Poland. “But of course, the Russians are not stupid. That means innovation in the battlefield is not a static thing. It’s more like chess.”
Recent Russian advances have led Ukraine’s allies to loosen restrictions on weapons they provide, with the US and Germany authorizing attacks on Russian territory for the first time. Such strikes had previously been forbidden for fear of antagonizing the country with the biggest nuclear arsenal.
An agreement that introduces new frameworks for sharing information, including on supply chains for drones, will be finalized in time for the alliance’s July summit in Washington, according to van Weel.
One goal of the program is to help make Ukraine a large-scale tech provider once the war ends. NATO also wants to replicate some of the rapid tech adoption and deployment seen in Ukraine since the war started, van Weel said.
Van Weel spoke at the inaugural Defense Innovators Forum, a conference that featured representatives from 17 countries including Ukraine, Belgium and the US, as well as dozens of startups building battlefield equipment.