Kyiv’s drone leverage moved the US. Moscow could be next, a top Ukrainian official says

(Katie Livingstone – Defense News) U.S. President Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Group of Seven summit in France that he would consider letting Ukraine build its own Patriot interceptor missiles, the first time Washington has signaled openness to a request Kyiv has made since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukraine previewed the shift weeks before Trump’s signal proved the point. Asked by Defense News earlier this month in Kyiv whether its growing web of weapons deals was changing its hand in the peace talks, Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine and the country’s former military intelligence chief, said Kyiv no longer comes to the table empty-handed. – Kyiv’s drone leverage moved the US. Moscow could be next, a top Ukrainian official says.