AP Photo/Ben Curtis
President Donald Trump’s administration rejected an offer from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to partner on technology capable of defending against Iranian drones last year — the same defense tech the U.S. is now seeking to acquire, reported Axios on Tuesday.
The offer came during Zelensky’s visit to Washington, D.C. last August, and included a PowerPoint presentation seemingly designed to flatter Trump, according to an Axios report by Marc Caputo, Barak Ravid, and Colin Demarest.
Out of necessity in their fight for survival against Russia’s invasion, the Ukrainian military has developed a high level of expertise in defending against the “Shahed” drones that Iran sold to Russia, including “a low-cost interceptor drone, among other sensors and air defenses,” reported Axios.
In a closed-door meeting between Trump and Zelensky last August, the Ukrainian officials gave a PowerPoint presentation labeled “Making US-Ukraine Drone Industry Great,” an apparent nod to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign sloganeering, and framed the proposal like a business deal that would boost U.S. manufacturing jobs, to appeal to the author of The Art of the Deal and star of The Apprentice.
The presentation included a dire prediction about Iran being able to further improve the Shahed’s capabilities and proposed the creation of “drone combat hubs” to be located at U.S. military bases throughout Turkey and the Middle East, ready to deploy against Iranian drone strikes.
According to a Ukrainian official who spoke to Axios, Ukraine had estimated they could build up to 20 million of their interceptor drones but had the resources “to produce only 50% of what we can produce,” so the plan was for the U.S. “to invest the other 50% and have a share of the production.”
“Ukraine will help unleash the American drone dominance,” the PowerPoint stated, phrasing the proposed partnership as an expression of gratitude for American support in their war against Russia.
“Ukraine is ready to give back to the US for its past and future security assistance,” and “provide the US a privileged access to purchasing Ukraine’s best drones and localizing their production,” the PowerPoint said. “Ukraine offers to America the best of what we procure for ourselves…Ukraine can help the US build an entire drone ecosystem.”
A specific advantage of the Ukrainian plan was the cost, the Axios report noted. The Iranian Shahed drones cost between $20,000 and $50,000 and the Ukrainians’ interceptor drones are “even cheaper” — a far more cost-effective defense than the American Patriot or THAAD missile systems, which take years to build and have price tags in the millions of dollars.
Because of the low cost and ease of manufacture, Iran has been able to send swarms of Shaheds to respond to the U.S. and Israeli strikes. So far seven American service members have been killed as a result.
But at the time of their meeting last August, the Trump administration was unconvinced of the necessity of partnering with the Ukrainians on drones.
“Snubbing Ukraine’s offer ranks as one of the biggest tactical miscalculations by the administration since the bombing of Iran began Feb. 28,” Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials as sources.
“If there’s a tactical error or a mistake we made leading up to this [war in Iran], this was it,” said one of the officials.
Now, the U.S. is actively seeking to obtain more of the Ukrainian drone defense tech, needing to catch up both to defend American service members and military assets and those of allies in the region, who have also been targeted by Iranian strikes.
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