U.S.-Ukraine relations have taken a sharp and remarkable turn in recent weeks, as President Donald Trump pledged new deliveries of offensive and defensive weapons to Kyiv amid faltering negotiations with Russia.
The relationship between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy deepened further this week, with Zelenskyy revealing details of a possible “mega deal” to the New York Post.
Zelenskyy described how the two countries are working to establish a new partnership that will see Ukraine provide drone technology and share its hard-earned battlefield knowledge of modern aerial warfare with the U.S. military.
The Big Drone Deal
The possible deal would plug a huge gap in American military technology.
Military analysts continue to argue that the United States has fallen behind Russia and China on drone technology, and that U.S. soldiers are not properly equipped or prepared to defend against the kind of attack drones used in the Ukraine war.
Zelenskyy told The Post that the “people of America need this technology.”
“I think this is really a mega deal, a win-win, as they say,” Zelenskyy also said.
While the details of the deal have yet to be confirmed, along with the status of negotiations, Ukraine’s deployment of a diverse mix of drone types means the United States has a lot to learn.
Over the last three years, Ukrainian forces have perfected their drone strategy, utilizing high-end loitering munitions for deep-strike missions alongside swarms of inexpensive first-person view (FPV) to destroy and disable armored vehicles and disrupt troop movements.
Under the deal, Zelenskyy also suggested that Ukraine would share its expertise in the use of unmanned aerial technologies with the United States and European partners.
Why Drones Matter
While drones have been used throughout the entirety of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, their capabilities have expanded substantially over the last three years.
Rapid improvements in hardware and manufacturing capacity have forced both Russian and Ukrainian tank crews to adapt their tactics, altering tank formations to avoid losing crucial armored vehicles in drone strikes.
Russia has lost thousands of tanks to drone strikes, prompting armies on both sides to retrofit vehicles with “cope cages” or even more elaborate “turtle tank” structures – metal cages and slatted armor intended to detonate or deflect incoming drones.
A Reuters front-line dispatch this week described Ukrainian positions as drone-infested “kill zones,” where unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – not artillery or mines – have become the primary threat slowing Russian advances.
Drones are already cheap to manufacture, and getting more affordable. They are versatile, easy to deploy, minimize risk to personnel, and can deliver devastating blows to enemy positions. Ukraine proved just how valuable this kind of military hardware can be during Operation Spider’s Web, the covert drone attack carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine on June 1 that damaged or destroyed dozens of high-value Russian aircraft.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
The Best Tanks on Earth
AbramsX: The Tank the US Army Wants
Swamplaw Yankee
July 18, 2025 at 3:12 am
What is the fault: the Problem: the elephant in the middle of this wonderful mega drone deal? What no elephant: you must be not drinking!
Ukraine is in the midst of a theft war by a thousand year predator ethnicity. Yes, for centuries, orc muscovite elite have mass abducted Ukrainian children for their sex trade and killed millions of Ukrainian families. The most recent mass genocide dreamed up by peasant ruskie butchers was the HOLODOMOR. Peasant russian predators delighted in stealing food out of Ukrainian kitchens and watching 20 million Ukrainian starve. It was their ancient tradition.
The US troops hiding in safety on the US mainland have zero enemies. The British to the north protected the Yellow Coward Yankees in 1939-40-41 when the brave GI Joes refused to fight Stalin and Hitler. The Mexicans to the south still refuse to arm + invade the US and re-take their ancient lands orc ruskie Putin style.
Giving the old concept of a tech transfer of drone flight/construction to Yankees is a dud. The Yankee Doodle Dandy needs to be hunted and possibly killed by orc muscovite operators. After a 7-14 day 24-7 exposure to ruskie “Human Safari” technology, the surviving US soldier mass will understand the “psychology” of the drone hunter.
Playing Lord Baden Powell is not the role for Zelensky. Ukraine is not mainland USA, where novice recruits drive to strange, foreign Alberta to put-put about in phoney apex tanks. Zelensky has a man’s killing army, not a boy scout badge centre for drone reflex speed.
Monday, MAGA POTUS Trump clearly left Ukraine out to dry. For 50 days the Han CCP Zi triad with its billion person plus axis of evil can supply unlimited men and military hardware drones at will to kill Ukrainian Fathers on the front lines. Trump gave the mass abductors of Children 50 days to steal much more Ukrainian real estate. Trump has already given away any intention of fighting PUTIN for the return of every foot of illegally occupied Ukrainian soil. Trump states, yeah, Putin, you can have all the Ukrainian real estate that you have stolen.
US troops need to attend in person to the front lines of Ukraine in mass numbers: say in 100,000 rotations. With a kill rate of about 1%, these novice, green troops will actually watch, absorb + learn the “psychology” of drone operator eradication or survival.
Otherwise, having a few learned Ukrainian instructors loitering about on main land USA soil is a perpetration of fraud on the very ignorant US troops. The US troops have no enemy that in existential reality has hunted, sexually abused and sold into muslim slavery little christian kiddies for at least 700 to 800 years..
This op-ed writer speculates that the USMC should go first into Drone front line psychology. -30-