Zelenskyy: US diverting 20,000 missiles promised for Ukraine to the Middle East
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told ABC News' Martha Raddatz that his defense minister told him Friday the U.S. was sending anti-drone weapons promised to Ukraine to the Middle East instead.
Zelenskyy said the U.S. would divert "20,000 missiles" earmarked for Ukraine in an agreement with the Biden administration to the Middle East, where it appears the U.S. would use them for its own force protection,
“Without the help of the United States, we will have more losses,” Zelenskyy told Raddatz in Kyiv last week.
The reallocation comes as Russia pounds Ukraine with its drone offensive and after Ukraine struck deep inside Russia with its own drones last week, shocking Russia in a clandestine operation.
Overnight Sunday, Russia launched 479 drones and 20 missiles into Ukraine in an attack the Ukrainian Air Force called an “absolute record” for a Russian aerial offensive.
The Pentagon declined to confirm the assets were being redirected for the Middle East.
The Ukrainian president said the assets were “not expensive, but [a] special technology” which specifically defended against Shahed drones.
The Shaheds are an inexpensive drone originally made by Iran and imported by Moscow. Russia now mass produces them.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the Pentagon authorized a transfer of an anti-drone technology scheduled for deployment in Ukraine to take down Russian drones.
