Canada and Ukraine Build a Long-Term Defence Partnership Around Drones

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Canada has produced a broader defence and security partnership focused on air defence, drone production and Ukraine’s energy resilience ahead of another difficult winter. The agreements reached with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Calgary also give the relationship a longer-term dimension, with Kyiv and Ottawa committing to a 100-year partnership and closer cooperation in defence, security and energy.

The immediate priority is Ukraine’s ability to withstand Russia’s expanding aerial campaign. Canada has agreed to provide C$350 million for air-defence interceptors, while also preparing new support for Ukraine’s energy system and natural-gas purchases. At the same time, Ottawa plans to rapidly expand its own drone production, with one-third of the new output earmarked for Ukraine.

Air defence becomes the immediate priority

The C$350 million air-defence package is particularly significant because Ukraine is facing growing pressure on its interceptor stocks. The country relies heavily on Western systems, including US-made Patriot interceptors, to defend against ballistic missiles and other high-speed threats.

The Canadian package will be delivered through a US mechanism that allows third countries to procure weapons for Ukraine. Ottawa has not specified which interceptors will be supplied or when deliveries will begin, but the agreement comes as Russia has intensified attacks against Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure.

The timing is closely linked to preparations for winter. Russia has increasingly combined large numbers of drones with missiles and newer jet-powered systems, while attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure are again becoming a central element of its campaign. On September 11, Russian strikes hit petrol stations in Kyiv, killing two people and injuring others, underscoring the renewed pressure on the capital and the wider civilian infrastructure network.

For Kyiv, the challenge is not simply obtaining more air-defence systems. It is finding a sustainable way to defend a large country against increasingly numerous and relatively inexpensive aerial threats while preserving expensive interceptors for the most dangerous targets.

From buying weapons to building them together

The more strategically important element of the Canadian visit may be the decision to deepen cooperation on drone production.

Carney said Canada intends to increase production to millions of drones within the next two years. One-third of those drones are expected to be provided to Ukraine. The move would represent a substantial expansion of Canada's military drone capabilities: according to Carney, the Canadian armed forces currently operate only around 2,000 drones, while newly announced contracts are expected to increase that fleet tenfold.

For Ukraine, the value of the arrangement goes beyond the number of systems eventually delivered. Kyiv has spent years adapting its defence industry around rapidly evolving drone warfare, developing technologies and production models under battlefield conditions. The partnership gives Canada access to that experience while giving Ukraine another industrial base from which to produce and finance the systems it needs.

Zelenskyy has increasingly pushed this model with Western partners: rather than relying exclusively on governments to purchase finished weapons, Ukraine wants to establish joint production, technology transfer and long-term industrial partnerships. The Canadian agreement fits that approach.

The two countries also presented Ukrainian drones, joint Ukrainian-Canadian developments and companies producing components during Zelenskyy’s visit. That points to a relationship increasingly centred on industrial cooperation rather than traditional donor-recipient assistance.

A new role for Canada’s defence industry

The arrangement comes as Canada itself is reassessing the scale and structure of its defence industry. The war in Ukraine has demonstrated how quickly relatively inexpensive unmanned systems can reshape military operations, while also exposing the limitations of traditional procurement models built around smaller numbers of expensive platforms.

Canada’s decision to expand domestic drone production therefore has two dimensions. It strengthens Ukraine’s ability to fight Russia while also building Canadian industrial capacity in a technology that is becoming fundamental to modern warfare.

For Ottawa, cooperation with Ukraine can provide access to a live testing and development environment that few other partners can offer. Ukrainian companies have had to continuously modify drones, electronic warfare systems and counter-drone technologies in response to Russian adaptation.

That creates a potential feedback loop: Canadian investment expands production capacity, Ukrainian battlefield experience informs technological development, and the resulting systems can become part of a broader North American and European defence-industrial ecosystem.

Energy security is part of the same package

The Canadian commitments also extend beyond the battlefield. Ottawa will provide nearly C$435 million in new loan guarantees to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to support Ukraine’s energy security, including preparations for winter. The package is intended to help Ukraine finance energy-related needs and natural-gas purchases as Russia continues to threaten critical infrastructure.

That matters because Ukraine’s ability to maintain electricity and heating through the winter is closely connected to its military resilience. Protecting power generation, gas supplies and distribution networks requires air defence, while sustained attacks on infrastructure can increase the financial pressure on the Ukrainian state.

The Canadian approach therefore links military assistance with economic resilience. Air-defence interceptors protect infrastructure from immediate attack, while financial guarantees help Ukraine keep the energy system functioning after damage occurs.

The 100-year partnership

The agreements signed in Calgary give the relationship an unusually long horizon. Ukraine and Canada signed a declaration on a 100-year partnership, alongside separate documents on defence and security cooperation and energy cooperation.

The language is significant because it places support for Ukraine beyond the immediate question of how long the war will continue. Canada is signalling that its relationship with Ukraine is intended to extend into reconstruction and the post-war security environment rather than end when active fighting stops.

That approach is also reflected in Carney’s statement that Canada would continue supporting Ukraine after the war, with a focus on rebuilding and strengthening the country rather than simply returning to the pre-war status quo.

Canada has already committed more than C$25.5 billion in assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, including C$8.5 billion in military support. The country’s large Ukrainian diaspora — estimated at 1.3 to 1.4 million people — has also given the bilateral relationship a distinctive domestic political and social foundation.

Ukraine is preparing for a harder winter

The Canadian package comes at a particularly difficult moment for Kyiv. Russia has intensified its use of drones, including faster jet-powered systems, while continuing to target civilian and economic infrastructure. Ukraine has responded by expanding its own long-range drone campaign against Russian military and energy-related targets.

On September 10, Ukrainian officials said Russia had launched 149 drones overnight, while Ukraine reported strikes against multiple Russian infrastructure targets, including facilities thousands of kilometres from Ukrainian territory. The growing reach of Ukrainian drones is becoming an important part of Kyiv’s strategy to impose costs on Russia while strengthening its negotiating position.

Zelenskyy has also linked military strength directly to diplomacy. He has said Ukraine needs to be in a stronger position before meaningful negotiations can produce a durable settlement, while Ukrainian and US negotiators remain in contact over a possible future diplomatic track. He said on September 10 that no trilateral talks involving Russia would take place before Russia’s September 20 parliamentary elections, while further discussions with US officials were expected later in September.

The Canadian agreements therefore arrive at a point when Kyiv is simultaneously preparing for another phase of intense military pressure and trying to preserve diplomatic options.

A partnership built around Ukraine’s wartime experience

The significance of Zelenskyy’s visit lies less in any single aid announcement than in the direction of the relationship.

Canada is moving towards a model in which support for Ukraine is tied to domestic defence production, technology cooperation and long-term industrial planning. For Kyiv, that creates additional capacity at a time when Western weapons stocks and air-defence systems remain under pressure.

The drone partnership is particularly important because it reflects a wider transformation in how Ukraine’s allies are approaching the war. Instead of treating Ukraine solely as a recipient of military equipment, governments are increasingly seeking to integrate Ukrainian technology, production and battlefield experience into their own defence industries.

For Canada, this means building capabilities it previously lacked at scale. For Ukraine, it means diversifying the industrial base supporting its defence and creating partnerships designed to survive beyond the current war.