Ukraine is waiting for approval from the White House on a proposed drone production agreement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday. He described the deal as a way to strengthen protection as countries scramble to modernize air defenses after the Iran war exposed shortcomings.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was awaiting the White House’s sign-off on a drone production agreement proposed by Kyiv last year. He said the proposed U.S.-Ukraine deal would cover various types of drones and air defenses intended to operate as a single system capable of protecting against swarms of hundreds or even thousands of Iranian-designed Shahed drones and missiles.
“We have not yet had the opportunity to sign this document,” Zelenskyy said in a message on social media, according to the report. The agreement is part of Ukraine’s broader effort to shape future foreign support and strengthen its negotiating position, Zelenskyy said.
The report said Russia has fired more than 57,000 Shahed drones at Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. It also said Russia launched more than 800 drones and decoys in what it called its biggest nighttime barrage of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy linked the stalled agreement to developments in the wider region. The report said Iran responded to joint U.S.-Israeli strikes by firing the same type of drones at targets in the Middle East, and that the conflict could influence U.S. officials’ willingness to sign the drone production proposal.
During a visit to Romania, Zelenskyy discussed costs and production capacity for air defenses and drones. He said a Patriot air defense missile costs $3 million to $4 million, compared with about $130,000 to $150,000 for a Shahed, and he said the United States produces about 60–65 Patriot missiles per month. The report also said Zelenskyy credited Ukraine for developing cut-price drone killers, some costing a few thousand dollars.
The report said Zelenskyy was in Romania ahead of visits and meetings in Europe, including a trip to meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. It said the Ukrainian leader also told reporters that U.S.-mediated talks aimed at stopping what he described as Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II are on hold because of the Iran war, though they could resume next week.
Zelenskyy’s trip also coincided with research discussed in the report suggesting Russian oil revenues increased after the Iran war began. The report said Russia’s daily revenue from oil sales during the Iran conflict averaged 14% higher than in February, citing the nonprofit Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and that Isaac Levi of the CREA said Russia has been earning 510 million euros ($588 million) every day this month from oil and liquefied natural gas exports.
The report said most Russian LNG goes to the European Union, while China, Turkey and India make up 90% of Russia’s crude oil exports, based on Levi’s interview with The Associated Press. It also said Macron’s office said talks with Zelenskyy will focus on efforts to counter Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers shipping oil in violation of international sanctions but that are hard to stop.
In Bucharest, the report said Zelenskyy met with Romanian President Nicușor Dan, who told a news conference that the two countries signed documents for joint drone production and energy sector cooperation. The report also said Bucharest has provided energy support to Kyiv as Russia’s forces blast Ukraine’s power grid and that Ukraine exported a significant amount of its grain through Romania during the war.
The report further described drone strikes inside Russia. It said a senior Ukrainian official claimed Ukraine’s Security Service special operations unit struck a major oil depot and transshipment terminal in Russia’s Krasnodar region and that the attack dealt a significant blow to Russia’s fuel logistics; the official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the report, a separate drone attack on a compressor station serving a natural gas pipeline to Turkey was an “absolutely reckless action.” The report said the Russian Defense Ministry responded by saying air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian drones overnight around the compressor station in the Krasnodar region and that there was no damage to the facility.