Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during a meeting with media representatives, stated that on August 24 the leaders of France and the United Kingdom agreed to transfer to Ukraine a license for the independent production of long-range Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing a statement by the head of state made while speaking with the press in the presence of the President of Estonia. According to Zelensky, he considers this decision a "strong positive and a strong decision."
Production license: what Paris and London confirmed
"We received confirmation from the United Kingdom regarding the production of SCALP long-range missiles. Before that, we spoke with President Macron, who confirmed the unblocking of the 'scalps' and the license," RBC-Ukraine quotes Zelensky as saying. Thus, according to Kyiv, this is not a one-off delivery, but a transfer of technology and the right to locally produce strike missiles, which potentially changes the logic of supplying the Ukrainian Armed Forces with long-range weapons.
Context of the statement and format of the meeting
The statement was made during a media meeting held together with Estonian President Alar Karis and broadcast, among other places, on Telegram. Zelensky emphasized that the unblocking of the license is the result of direct agreements with Paris and London, and linked this to the broader logic of "unblocking" Western weapons systems for Ukraine.
FREYJA anti-ballistic system: timeline of 7–10 days
Separately, the head of state announced that in 7–10 days Ukraine will have a timeline for working with the FREYJA anti-ballistic system. "Everyone is taking this very seriously, we will unblock everything," Zelensky added, without revealing the details of the technical and organizational plan for implementing the system.
Funding and additional deliveries
In the same statement, Zelensky reported that Norway has confirmed $9 billion in funding for 2027. In addition, according to him, Ukraine has received a small batch of Patriot missiles. These figures are cited in the context of general confirmations of future deliveries of weapons and air defense systems.
Port protection and plans for September
Zelensky also spoke about several options for countering Russian attacks on ports, noting that shipping is currently not fully blocked. It was separately reported that UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham stated his intention to travel to the United States in September together with other European leaders in an attempt to strengthen Ukraine's defense.
