US ready to buy Ukrainian drones
Speaking at a press conference in Kiev, Zelensky said he had reached an understanding with US President Donald Trump and had instructed his ministers to prepare an agreement.
'With Trump, we agreed that the US will buy drones from us,' he told reporters, adding that a contract worth $10–30 billion is now being drafted.
Earlier this month, Zelensky said that he had discussed a 'mega deal' on drone procurement with Trump. According to the New York Post, American defense officials have warned that US drone technology lags behind that of Russia and China, prompting efforts to accelerate purchase and development.
In announcing the potential export deal, Zelensky also mentioned that Kiev urgently needs funding to cover its budget shortfalls. 'Forty billion [is needed] for the deficit, 25 for drones, missiles, electronic warfare. That's already 65 billion,' he said, adding that he has already asked for these funds from multiple European leaders and institutions.
Zelensky also insisted that the West pay the salaries of Ukrainian servicemen. He noted that so far, European donors have refused to cover wages, funding only weapons. However, pay for Kiev's soldiers should be included as well, he argued, because they are 'weapons.'
The Ukrainian leader's remarks come as the US has significantly scaled back direct financial aid. Trump has stressed that further assistance to Ukraine 'will be a business for us,' specifically saying that the US would no longer be paying for Patriot air defense systems, which will instead be funded by the EU and European NATO members.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned Western financing of Ukraine, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova arguing that paying for its weapons amounts to funding the 'death' of the country.
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Like him, hate him, Otto von Bismarck – Prussian aristocrat, arch conservative, user of German nationalism, maker of wars, and then keeper of the peace – was no dummy. And his ego was Reich-sized. Yet even Bismarck had a grain of humility left. Smart politics, he once remarked, consists of listening for 'God's step' as He walks through 'world history,' and then to grab the hem of His mantle. In other words, stay attuned to the needs and especially the opportunities of the moment. Tragically, Bismarck's single greatest skill was to seize – and, if need be, help along – opportunities for war. But sometimes peace, too, gets its chance. Fifty years ago, all European countries – minus only Albania, initially – plus the US and Canada, signed the Helsinki Final Act (or Helsinki Accords). A complex document addressing four areas (called 'baskets') of international relations and follow-up implementation, the Helsinki Final Act was a breakthrough for Détente in Europe. 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Stemming from Soviet and Warsaw Pact initiatives and resonating with a Western Europe – and even post-Harmel Report NATO (those were the days!) – that genuinely wanted to combine due diligence in defense policy with real diplomacy and give-and-take negotiations, the Helsinki Accords also fed on the preceding French, that is, De Gaulle's, 'politique à l'Est,' as well as Willy Brandt of Germany's 'Ostpolitik.' The latter is much maligned now in a Germany where disgracefully incompetent elites have gone wild with Russophobia and a new militarism. In reality, both De Gaulle and Brandt – as well as Brandt's key foreign policy adviser, Egon Bahr, made historic contributions to mitigating the worst risks of the Cold War and, in Germany's case, also to preparing the ground for national re-unification. Yet, after 1975, things started to go downhill, and they've never really stopped. That is one of the key points recently made in a long article by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. 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