Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine accepted the United States' terms for testing its drones but has not signed a broader drone-cooperation deal, in an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation." He said the holdup now sits on the American side. Kyiv is meanwhile advancing similar deals with the EU and others.
Ukraine accepted the testing terms
Zelenskyy said Ukraine wanted the United States as its first strategic partner for a drone deal. Washington asked to inspect every type of Ukrainian drone first:
"So, we wanted very much to do the first drone deal with the United States, like with the first strategic partner, but the United States wanted to check all our types of drones."
He accepted the document setting out how the US would test, train with, and use the systems in the air, at sea, and on land. The two sides have not signed the deal itself, which he called the big framework document. The countries had been drafting such a framework on production and technology sharing.
Ukraine says its drone deal with the US is stuck while its deals with Europe and the Gulf move ahead
Deals elsewhere move faster
Ukraine already has drone deals with Middle Eastern and European countries, Zelenskyy said. Those include 10-year agreements Kyiv signed with three Gulf States. Now Kyiv is preparing a large drone deal with the EU. He said he hopes for the same outcome with American partners:
"Now we're preparing the big drone deal with EU, and I hope that we will have such decisions with American partners. I count on it."
What Ukraine wants from the deal
Zelenskyy framed the appeal as a trade. American companies hold advanced AI technology that Ukraine lacks. Ukraine holds battlefield experience that the US does not. He called the potential cooperation the most powerful of its kind in the world.
"We need President Trump to say yes," he said.
