The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine plans to soon simplify the rules for building underground defense enterprises. The relevant amendments are being prepared by the Ministry of Defense, which intends to create a full legal framework for so-called protected underground production. This was stated by Deputy Defense Minister Anna Hovdiar in her Twitter post, according to RBC-Ukraine.
Legal framework for underground production
According to Hovdiar, the ministry has already prepared amendments to Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1494. Their goal is to form a regulatory foundation that will allow production facilities to be built underground legally and in a simplified manner. As the deputy minister emphasized, it is precisely this model that should remove administrative barriers and give the industry a tool for the rapid deployment of protected production capacity.
Mechanism for attracting private investors
A key element of the new model will be the possibility of private capital participation. As envisioned by the Ministry of Defense, investors will be able to build facilities using their own or borrowed funds, and then transfer them to defense enterprises in ownership, use, or lease. In this way, the state intends to relieve the budget while simultaneously accelerating the creation of protected production sites, distributing risks between the state and business.
Context: adapting defense production to shelling
The regulatory changes are taking place against the backdrop of a persistent threat of Russian shelling, which forces Ukrainian weapons manufacturers to constantly adapt. Companies are diversifying their capacity across the country, hiding it underground, and in some cases moving parts of production lines abroad. To reduce the risk of losing production, enterprises are applying a comprehensive set of approaches — from the geographic distribution of workshops to the transfer of critical stages to a protected underground configuration.
New appointment in the Ministry of Defense leadership
Recall that on September 8, Anna Hovdiar was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine. Under her purview is the development of the defense-industrial complex and the export of Ukrainian defense solutions. The key priority of this area remains the needs of the front: the military must receive domestic weapons in a timely manner and in sufficient quantities to counter Russian threats on the battlefield. The preparation of amendments to Resolution No. 1494 became one of the first practical steps in this direction.
