Ukraine’s Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal met with the U.K.’s Defense Secretary John Healey on Jan. 9 in Kyiv, and they signed “in Kyiv a roadmap for the development of the 100-year partnership.” It “formalizes defense cooperation for 2026 across a number of key security areas.” In a followup posting, Shmyhal explained that they discussed “opportunities for joint strategic industrial projects in air defense and long-range weapons” and that the “U.K. has already made a significant contribution to strengthening our ability to repel russian terror.” (In Kyiv, refusing to use capital letters for “Russia” is part of the victory plan.) Shmyhal’s example of such a contribution is that by “February, we are reaching production of 1,000 Octopus interceptor drones per month.”
Of course, Shmyhal won’t be around for that accomplishment as, last week, the acting President Volydymyr Zelenkyy announced that Shmyhal is being demoted for a second time. Last June, Shymyhal was the prime minister, but he was replaced and was given the Defense Ministry post. As of last week, it is not clear what is next for him, but his replacement as head of defense, Mykhail Fedorov, was already announced.
