Estonia and Ukraine have signed a drone agreement that could let Estonian companies manufacture drones in Estonia using Ukrainian know-how, according to ERR. The deal also creates a route for future purchases from Ukraine, adding a new industrial dimension to Estonia’s growing defence ecosystem.
The agreement was signed in Ankara by Prime Minister Kristen Michal and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the NATO summit. While the detailed terms are not public, Michal said it gives Estonian companies access to Ukrainian skills and intellectual property in drone development, while Zelenskyy described the deal as a sign of trust that Ukraine reserves for close partners.
What the drone agreement means for Estonian companies
Michal said the agreement is meant to help bring production to Estonia rather than create immediate procurement commitments. Estonia has not agreed specific financial figures, but the text includes an intention to buy Ukrainian-made drones in the future through normal defence planning. Estonia is also ready to move with another big project, Prime Minister said: “We talked about many other details, including an important event coming up in Estonia — the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference, which will take place here in January 2027. We discussed how to organize it, maintain contact, and what should be done in the process. There were many different topics”
Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said the two countries have broadly discussed the annual scale of what Estonia could buy from Ukraine. He added that Estonian companies already working with Ukrainian partners may be able to obtain export licences from Ukraine, allowing them to start manufacturing in Estonia as well. The deal could also give Estonia access to newer systems that are still being tested.
Another signal for Estonia’s DefenceTech base
For investors, the agreement strengthens Estonia’s position as a place where defence manufacturing and drone production can scale. Local companies such as Threod Systems and Jotel are already expanding in drone production, while the state is also opening new defence industrial parks to attract more manufacturing capacity.
Regina Palandi-Paju, deputy head of the Government Office’s security and defence coordination bureau, said only a handful of countries have reached similar agreements with Ukraine so far, including Latvia and Lithuania. That makes the new deal both a strategic partnership and a signal that Estonia is being treated as a trusted production and development base.
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