Minister of Defense of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal held talks with Minister of National Defense of Portugal Nuno Melo.

The Minister of Defense of Ukraine reported this on social media.

The parties coordinated key issues of bilateral defense cooperation and the priority needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

“I thanked Portugal for its active participation in the meetings of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format and for its contribution of 12 million USD to the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU) for arms procurement”, — Denys Shmyhal stated.

The ministers also discussed Portugal’s participation in the initiative for the procurement of U.S. weapons for Ukraine (PURL), in particular expressing gratitude for the already announced contribution of 50 million USD and for Portugal’s plans to further expand its involvement, as well as the possibility of implementing joint projects under the SAFE program.

This will open up additional prospects for cooperation between the defense industries of both countries.

“We discussed strengthening Ukraine’s air defense. We are also interested in expanding cooperation in the fields of unmanned systems, tactical communications, cybersecurity, and maritime technologies. I thank Portugal for its unwavering support of our country!” — the Minister of Defense of Ukraine noted.