Latvia and Ukraine agreed on 30 June to build a joint drone factory in the Latgale region of eastern Latvia, hard against the Russian and Belarusian border1. Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said the government would site the plant near the frontier deliberately, to lift one of the country's poorest regions; President Volodymyr Zelensky and Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov confirmed the framework alongside Latvian Defence Minister Raivis Melnis. Construction begins this year, though the location, drone types and cost split stay undisclosed.
Latvia will also field counter-drone systems along its borders in July and August, cutting its reliance on scrambling fighter jets at every incursion. The country put mobile intercept teams on that border in May.
The factory extends Ukraine's export model into a third state. Rather than sell finished drones, Kyiv licenses combat-proven know-how through Build-with-Ukraine corridors, already running in Lithuania and folded into the ten EU export offices Zelensky announced in June. Siting a production line within artillery reach of Russia also invites a strike, because a weapons plant on that border is a lawful military target, and NATO has published no guidance on what hosting one does to a member's status.
