Zelensky offers Trump Ukrainian-made drones for weapons ‘mega-deal’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is negotiating a “mega-deal” with US President Donald Trump in which Kyiv and Washington will start buying weapons from each other, Zelensky told The New York Post on Thursday.

As part of the proposed deal, the United States would buy “battle-tested” drones from Ukraine, including those capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 1,300 km, and in exchange Ukraine would buy American weapons.

As The New York Post pointed out, Ukrainian drones capable of hitting targets deep inside Russia territory far outstrip US technology in the area, with US drones also lagging far behind developments in both Russia and China.

“The people of America need this technology, and you need to have it in your arsenal,” Zelensky told The New York Post. “I think this is really a mega deal, a win-win, as they say.”

Zelensky said that Ukraine was willing to share the expertise it had accumulated in drone warfare over three years of war with Russia with Washington, adding that Ukraine was also conducting similar negotiations with Denmark, Norway and Germany.

The deal is a further sign of warming relations between Kyiv and Washington and of increased cooperation when it comes to arms. On Sunday, Trump said that Washington would provide Kyiv with additional Patriot air defence systems, having become increasingly exasperated with Putin amid continued Russian attacks on Ukraine and Moscow’s resistance to a US-brokered ceasefire, according to Axios.

Earlier this month, the US temporarily suspended deliveries of weapons and munitions to Ukraine as it reviewed its own stockpiles. Washington has not publicly commented on Zelensky’s proposal.