Finland is changing its approach to military assistance to Ukraine and is launching a new support program focused on purchasing weapons from the domestic defense industry.

The Finnish Ministry of Defense announced this on its website.

The products of Finnish companies will be transferred to Ukraine as part of future military aid packages.

The Finnish Ministry of Defense proposes to allocate €660 million for this initiative.

“With this new support program, Finnish companies will play a key role in supporting Ukraine. Until now, we have supported Ukraine mainly through the transfer of stocks, but in the future, we will order significant volumes of products from our companies,” Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen reported.

The Minister hopes that this decision will strengthen Ukraine’s position in achieving a just peace and that the Finnish defense industry will be provided with long-term orders.

In the coming weeks, a roundtable will be convened under the Finnish Minister of Defense chairmanship to discuss financial issues with manufacturers in more detail.

A new support program for Ukraine has been prepared under the leadership of the Finnish Ministry of Defense since last fall. During the preparation, close contact was maintained with industry, international partners, and Ukraine.

The Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command will carry out the procurement.

The main criteria for selecting products are Ukraine’s urgent needs and the possibility of rapid production and delivery.

Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced earlier in February that Finland was preparing a new military aid package, including investing in producing heavy armored vehicles for Ukraine.

However, neither the Head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry nor the Ministry of Defense itself disclosed any details about the armored vehicles in question or the mechanism for financing their production. In Finland, armored vehicles are manufactured by Patria.