Europe is already serving as Ukraine's strategic rear, and deterring Russia after the fighting ends will require expanding joint defense production with Ukrainians and preparing for an "armed peace."
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Europe is already serving as Ukraine’s strategic rear, and deterring Russia after the fighting ends will require expanding joint defense production with Ukrainians and preparing for an “armed peace.”
Arnaud Valli, a representative of Comand AI, a company specializing in artificial intelligence software for military planning and operational management, said this in a comment to an Ukrinform correspondent on the sidelines of the Ukraine–France Forum in Paris.
“Europe today is Ukraine’s strategic rear. We talk a lot about drone production, but a great deal of equipment is also serviced outside Ukraine,” Valli said. At the same time, he noted that power outages in Kyiv and other cities affect the capabilities of Ukrainian manufacturers, despite their exceptional flexibility and ability to rapidly adapt production.
Valli stressed that European companies should build cooperation based on the expertise of Ukrainian specialists.
“All the companies working in Ukraine today, including ours, understand that Ukrainians are the best at what they do. We can add our share to this – our engineers work in a country where there is no war, where electricity supplies are stable, and where there is time to think through solutions and engage in industrial cooperation,” he explained.
In the expert’s view, such synergy should continue after active hostilities end. European manufacturers fear that some Ukrainian defense companies could lose orders, while Ukraine could lose engineers, software developers and drone manufacturers whose expertise is in demand around the world.
“This is a shared concern, and the answer is cooperation. Today, the real question is not even what the French can give Ukraine, but what Ukraine can give us,” Valli stressed.
He expects Russia to continue expanding its military production. Therefore, future peace in Europe must be based on deterrence.
“The only way to ensure lasting peace with such a regime is an ‘armed peace’ – deterrence through sufficient weapons stockpiles. We have seen how important it is to have armies that are ready to act and capable of withstanding prolonged confrontation,” the expert added.
Read also: France condemns strikes on Pryluky and Kramatorsk: Russian crimes cannot go unpunished
As reported by Ukrinform, participants in the fifth annual Ukraine–France Forum in Paris discussed diplomatic pathways to ending Russia’s war, Ukraine’s accession to the EU, relations with NATO and the conditions for lasting peace and postwar reconstruction.