Ukraine Has Surpassed the U.S. Army in the Use of Drones, Says Senator Lenkford
Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma stated after a visit to Kyiv that Ukraine is ahead of other armies around the world—including the U.S.—in the use of unmanned systems. He called Ukraine’s experience with drones one of the key messages he plans to bring back to Washington.
Lankford spoke with reporters in Poland following a two-day visit to Kyiv timed to coincide with Ukraine’s Independence Day.
According to the senator, one of the main takeaways from the trip was the high level of development of Ukrainian military technology.
“The Ukrainian military is ahead of all other armies in the world, including our own, in how we operate in the field of unmanned systems—both in countering drones and in the offensive use of drones,” the senator stated.
Lenkford noted that no other country uses unmanned technologies as effectively or produces as many advanced weapons systems as Ukraine.
He emphasized that Ukraine’s experience with UAVs will be one of the key messages he will bring back to Washington after his trip.
During his stay in the Ukrainian capital, Lenkford, along with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to the American politician, they spoke for about 20 minutes behind the scenes at the National Prayer Breakfast.
One of the key topics was new sanctions against Russia. Zelenskyy called on the House of Representatives to pass a bill as soon as possible to increase sanctions pressure on Russia. The U.S. Senate has already supported this bill.
“As I understand it, the House of Representatives plans to consider this in September. But, obviously, I’m not the one setting the schedule,” Lenkford said.
According to the senator, Zelenskyy is interested in increasing economic pressure on Moscow, as Russia is using the funds it receives to finance the war against Ukraine.
The bill to strengthen sanctions against Russia was drafted by Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal. The Senate passed the bill in early August, but the House of Representatives has not yet approved it.
Following Graham’s death, Lenkford called on his colleagues to complete the work he had begun.
At the same time, the Republican stated that he does not plan to succeed Graham as one of the Republican Party’s leading advocates for Ukraine.
“I have absolutely no intention of trying to take on that role,” he said.
During the meeting, the President of Ukraine also raised the issue of strengthening Ukraine’s air defense.
Zelenskyy asked the U.S. to either provide Ukraine with additional Patriot interceptor missiles or allow their production in Ukraine.
“He made it quite clear that he would like to receive additional interceptors—either a license to produce them or additional missiles from our stockpiles,” Lenkford said.
The senator was unable to give Zelenskyy a specific answer regarding the Patriot missiles, but promised to forward the request to Washington.
According to him, the Ukrainian president had already directly appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump with this request.
Earlier, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who also visited Kyiv and met with Zelenskyy, told CNN that the Ukrainian president had asked the United States to provide Ukraine with about 5% of U.S. Patriot missile stockpiles.
This was reported by Politico.
Recently, Ukraine and Finland agreed to jointly produce weapons and military equipment for both their own needs and those of their European partners. As part of this cooperation, the countries will manufacture drones, develop unmanned maritime systems, and launch a facility to produce ground-based robotic systems.
As a reminder, Ukrainian drone manufacturer Airlogix and Finnish company Innokas previously signed a memorandum of understanding to establish production facilities in Finland for the manufacture of Ukrainian UAVs.
An explosion occurred at the Kaukopea plant in Finland, located near the border with Russia. The incident took place around 2:00 a.m.; there were no casualties.
Finland cannot transfer interceptor missiles for Patriot systems to Ukraine, as this could jeopardize its own combat readiness in the area of air defense.
