“Thanks to the support of the United States, Ukraine was able to start the production of new generation drones on its territory and later expand it, American officials said.”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
The US allocated money both to support drone manufacturers and to purchase parts for drones. In addition, the United States sent American intelligence officers to Ukraine, who helped the Ukrainian military in developing a UAV production program.
Thanks to the support of the United States, Ukraine was able to start the production of new-generation drones on its territory and later expand it, American officials said. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to the US president, noted that this had a “real strategic impact” on the course of the Russian-Ukrainian war. According to him, drones “have come to play an increasingly important role” in the war and are likely to be one of the main types of weapons in future battles.
Sullivan emphasized that Ukraine first started using drones during the first counteroffensive in the fall of 2022. After a less successful counteroffensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2023, he said, American officials decided to increase support for Ukrainian drone manufacturers. Sullivan added that the Russian army of 2023 was able to contain the offensive of the Ukrainian military, in particular, thanks to the use of drones.
At the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, the “drone revolution” took place in the Russian-Ukrainian war: commercial reconnaissance drones appeared in almost every unit of both armies. In 2023, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and then the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, received thousands of kamikaze drones. At the end of the same year, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, said that by 2024, Ukraine plans to make a million such drones, as well as at least 10,000 medium- and longer-range attack drones.
In January 2025, during a meeting of the contact group at the German Ramstein base, Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced “record plans” for the production of drones in Ukraine and the supply of UAVs to Kyiv from allies. He did not specify how many drones are planned to be put into service with the Armed Forces in 2025.