WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said he is still hoping to land a major deal to buy advanced US military drones, saying it would be a potentially “huge’’ game-changer in the war.
His comments came as he warned that Ukraine was set to be brutally pummeled by Russia by air again for the second week in a row.
Zelensky argued that fusing the dramatic advancements Ukraine has made with its drone technology because of its battlefield experience against Moscow with America’s remarkable military capabilities would be “huge” and beneficial for both countries.
“American technological companies, they have a lot of different interesting AI technologies, what we don’t have. And we have a lot of things [that] they don’t have, because [of] our experience,” Zelensky told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
“I think this cooperation can be huge and the most powerful in the world.”
While the US and Ukraine have had some cooperation on drones, there hasn’t been a comprehensive deal signed at the scale Zelensky has in mind, according to the Ukrainian leader.
The war-torn country is aiming to crank out a massive 7 million drones this year alone for both use in the skies and water.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has put an emphasis on building up American drone capabilities and recently told reporters that the Pentagon “learned so much from Ukraine and how they operate.”
Last week, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, met with officials in Ukraine to discuss drones and other issues.
Many military analysts have credited Ukraine’s drone advancements in part for the country’s progress on the battlefield against Russia in recent months. Another key factor was Starlink cutting off Russia from its satellite internet service.
Now Ukraine is bracing for a brutal wave of attacks from Russia.
“First of all, today at night, or tomorrow at night, we think that we will have big attacks from Russian side using drones, using cruise missiles and ballistic, and we see the preparation always,” Zelensky said.
“I will say that our people have to be very, very careful, cautious, and children, and they have to use bomb shelters, because today at night or tomorrow at night, a high percent, of course, nobody knows 100%, but there is a high percent” of attacks, he said.
Last weekend, Russia pummeled Ukraine with some 600 drones and 90 missiles.
“The main reason why they did it, because they [began] to lose on the battlefield,” Zelensky said.
On Memorial Day weekend, Zelensky penned a missive to President Trump asking him for more Patriot missile systems, contending that while Ukraine has considerable drone defense technology, it is lacking in ballistic missile defense.
The Ukrainian leader echoed one of his brigadier generals’ assessments that the next six months will be a critical time for Kyiv.
“I think that we have a window for the negotiations, because each month they will lose more and more people, and they will lose, because of these reasons, they will lose initiative on the battlefield,” he said. “But it depends [on] the pressure on Putin.”
