“I believe this cooperation could be enormous — the strongest of its kind in the world. We need to negotiate, not just talk about it. We need to take the necessary steps and do it as quickly as possible. For that, we need President Trump to say ‘yes,’” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine already has drone agreements with several countries in the Middle East and Europe. He also said Kyiv is preparing “a major drone deal with the EU.”
“I hope we will reach the same kind of agreement with our American partners. I am counting on it,” Zelenskyy said.
He said U.S. companies have advanced artificial intelligence technologies that Ukraine does not possess. At the same time, he said Ukraine has capabilities and experience that Washington lacks because of its extensive battlefield use of unmanned systems.
“We wanted to conclude the first drone deal with the United States. The United States wanted to test all types of our drones. We agreed to how they wanted to test them, use them for training and deploy our systems in the air, on land and at sea. But we still do not have a bilateral drone deal — a major framework document,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy also said he had recently asked Trump in a letter for a licence to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. Asked whether he had received a response, he said he hoped to get one and noted that Kyiv had asked the U.S. side to provide licences to expand production of Patriot missiles.
In August 2025, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had prepared and proposed a $50 billion, five-year drone deal to the United States. He said the plan would involve producing 10 million units a year and could begin after the war ends.
On September 29, Suspilne reported that a Ukrainian delegation had visited the United States for a meeting on joint drone production. The report said the Ukrainian side was led by Deputy Defense Minister Serhii Boiev.
On March 20, 2026, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was also offering the United States naval drones as part of a possible drone agreement. On May 12, CBS News reported, citing sources, that the U.S. and Ukrainian governments had prepared a memorandum outlining the terms of a potential new defense agreement on drones.
Source: CBS News.
