The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted bills No. 13305 and No. 13306, which provide customs and tax benefits for manufacturers of unmanned aerial vehicles with fiber optic control. This decision was supported on June 4, as confirmed by the members of parliament.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Essence of the Adopted Bills
Bill No. 13306 provides for exemption from value-added tax when importing optical fibers, fiber optic bundles, and other fiber optic cables used for ensuring security and defense during martial law into the customs territory of Ukraine. Bill No. 13305, in turn, exempts these same goods from import duties.
“These legislative initiatives provide for exemption from taxation by customs duties on fiber optics for drone production,” commented Danilo Hetmantsev, a member of parliament from the “Servant of the People” party and chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation, and Customs Policy.
According to the parliamentarians, the goal of the adopted decisions is to create favorable conditions for the development of Ukrainian production of unmanned systems using modern optical technologies.
Significance for the Defense Sector
The need for such legislative changes has increased in the context of growing threats from Russia. At the end of 2024, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, emphasized that the use of fiber optic FPV drones by Russian forces has become a serious problem that needs to be addressed in the near future.
In January 2025, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, also noted that Russian forces have increased the use of strike drones with fiber optic control channels. This creates additional risks for Ukrainian military equipment during its movement. At the same time, he pointed out that Ukrainian troops have already begun to implement FPV drones with fiber optics in their own units.
In April 2025, President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the need for continuous and stable production and supply of all components of the unmanned component to the military. He specifically highlighted the importance of developing fiber optic drones, noting that 11 Ukrainian enterprises have already mastered the production of drones with fiber optic control systems.