French auto giant Renault is in talks with the French Ministry of Defence to organise the production of drones in Ukraine. Bloomberg reports this with reference to a company representative.
According to him, the French Ministry of Defence has approached Renault with a proposal to join the defence project. Despite the fact that discussions have already taken place, the decision on the company’s participation has not yet been made – Renault is waiting for more details from the French defence ministry.
Bloomberg did not receive an official comment from the French Ministry of Defence. At the same time, Defence Minister Sebastian Le Coronneu said on Friday that a major French automaker would cooperate with a small defence company to set up production lines in Ukraine. He did not specify the name of the company.
According to Euronews, Lecornu stressed that it is Ukrainians who will develop and manufacture drones, as they have much more experience and strategic understanding than French specialists. According to him, there is no need to send French citizens to Ukrainian production facilities.
According to France Info, production facilities are planned to be located tens or hundreds of kilometres from the front line. Both the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the French army will be able to use the drones.
As a reminder, Renault finally left the Russian market after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, transferring its assets to the aggressor state.
