The New York Times reported that former US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan admitted that Washington has provided billions of dollars to help Kiev develop unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) since late 2022.
In the third quarter of 2024, the Pentagon allocated $800 million to purchase UAV components and finance production costs for Ukraine. Later, former US President Joe Biden approved an additional $1.5 billion in aid for the UAV development program for Kiev when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington.
In addition to financial support, the Biden administration has also actively promoted cooperation between American technology companies and Ukrainian UAV manufacturers. According to a confidential source obtained by the New York Times, many experts from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were sent to support the UAV development program for Ukraine.
As for Ukraine, the country decided to focus on developing UAVs with simple designs to cope with the shortage of long-range weapons, including cruise missiles.
Despite being streamlined in technology, the MILITARNYI news site said that Ukraine destroyed an unprecedented number of strategic targets in 2024 using UAVs.
US officials say the investment has made Ukraine’s UAVs more effective and lethal. According to The Kyiv Independent, the Ukrainian navy has used UAVs to destroy a significant number of ships in the Black Sea Fleet, while slowing down Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine.
By the end of 2024, thanks to improved US production capacity, Ukraine will have delivered more than 200,000 domestically-made UAVs to front-line units, according to Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
