Ukraine Needs American Drones
Wall Street JournalAug 07, 2023
After officials from more than 40 countries, excluding Russia, met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for peace talks over the weekend, Kyiv called the discussions "productive" while Moscow deemed them part of the West's "futile, doomed efforts" to make the Global South support Ukraine. Topics included Ukrainian air defense, infrastructure protection, and grain exportation.
A potential silver lining for peace was that China, who didn't attend previous talks in June, did send a delegation this time and suggested it would take part in a third round of talks—those could be a precursor to a meeting of heads of state. However, the talks didn't result in a formal declaration.
It's time for the US to bolster Ukraine's military with the latest drones. It's already proven capable of withstanding Russia's superior airforce without such assistance, so Kyiv would be a true force to be reckoned with if given the proper drone technology. As China is likely to begin sending its own drones to Moscow, the US could absolutely send upwards of 500k drones without depleting its own arsenal. Ukraine has shown its capabilities on the defensive, so now it's time to arm them with the tools for a devastating offensive operation.
What the West provides to Ukraine and tells the world about the war has little influence on how well Kyiv can actually perform in the face of Russia's superior military. Even if Western allies send new air defense systems, Russia — as it has done with Ukraine's old arsenal — will continue to destroy them, whether they're deployed to the front lines or closer to Kyiv. The US, for all its talk, will never engage directly with Moscow, which means Ukraine will remain a defenseless proxy for Washington.
There's a 50% chance the size of Ukraine's army will be at least 250K as a result of ceasefire or treaty negotiations with Russia, according to the Metaculus prediction community.