Ukraine ready to sign drone agreement with US on sidelines of UN General Assembly – CBS News
Drone Industry
Ukraine is ready to sign a major agreement with the US on protection against drones this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
CBS News reports this, according to Censor.NET.
When the agreement could be signed
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to sign the document on the sidelines of this year’s UN General Assembly in New York. According to sources, however, the agreement may be finalized later, when the US side is ready to sign it.
In 2025, the US and Ukrainian defense ministries worked on a framework agreement that could allow Kyiv and Washington to expand the testing and production of Ukrainian defense technologies directly in the US.
How Ukrainian drones helped protect US forces in the Middle East
The outlet stresses that an agreement with Ukraine would benefit the US because of Ukraine’s experience with drones.
In the first days of the conflict, Iran began attacking US military facilities in the Middle East with Shahed kamikaze drones, the same type Russia uses against Ukrainian cities. Because the US and Gulf countries initially lacked cost-effective ways to intercept them, Kyiv sent interceptor drones and pilots to help.
Ukraine subsequently signed defense agreements with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and other countries. The agreements combine foreign investment with Ukrainian expertise.
Zelenskyy has said Ukraine plans to produce 10 million drones this year, while the US Army purchased about 50,000 in 2025, according to former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.
Scope of the prospective agreement
- According to experts, the most important lesson for the US and its allies is that Ukraine’s advantage lies not only in the drones themselves, but also in the software, operators and teams that continually adapt them to battlefield conditions.
Sources familiar with the agreement’s details say it would go beyond contracts with several Ukrainian companies. Instead, it would establish a broader mechanism for leading Ukrainian defense firms to work directly with US partners and the US Department of Defense.
