US President Donald Trump met with President Volodymyr Zelensky for a “bilateral lunch” at the White House on Friday – where, among other things, he expressed interest in a drone pact with Ukraine. So what do we know about Zelensky’s proposal?
On Aug. 20, Zelensky gave a press briefing in Kyiv, where he outlined plans for a $50 billion “drone deal” with the US.
During the briefing, the president mentioned two proposals. The first, worth $50 billion, would involve Ukraine drawing on their hard-earned expertise in drone warfare to manufacture tens of millions of drones for the US.
“Regarding drones: the drone deal that we prepared and proposed to the American side is for $50 billion over five years – 10 million drones per year. Such a big program. It will probably work after the war,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky also mentioned a plan developed by Kyiv to purchase $90 billion worth of American weaponry – including long-range missiles – for use in defending their own soil. He later referred to this plan as the “mega deal.”
“Regarding the $90 billion for weapons purchases: I believe that a strong component of weapons has been written out that the Ukrainian army needs as part of security guarantees. This amount is fair,” the president said.
In terms of progress, we have heard more from the Ukrainian side of negotiations than the US. However, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met with US Special Envoy Keith Kellogg last month to discuss potential security guarantees for Ukraine – which Shmyhal said included the deal.
At the beginning of October a Ukrainian delegation arrived in Washington to discuss the deal.
During his “bilateral lunch” with Trump on Friday, Zelensky explicitly related the deal to Tomahawk long-range missiles, which Ukraine has long requested from the US. Asked by a reporter whether he would be interested in such an exchange, Trump replied “yeah, we would be.”
Experts have praised Zelensky’s move to link US Tomahawks to Ukrainian drones.
Shelby Magid, deputy director at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, told the Kyiv Post on Friday that the plan is “smart, strategic, and leverages Ukraine’s strengths.”