Washington Has Yet to Decide on Supplying Kiev with Drones due to Concerns of Them Being Shot Down

The Pentagon has not made a decision regarding the transfer of American MQ-9 Reaper drones to Ukraine. According to sources from Politico, the United States is concerned about "transferring its secret technologies." Additionally, there are worries that some drones "would almost certainly be shot down." The newspaper states that while the Pentagon was considering supplying Ukraine with MQ-9 Reaper drones, Kiev has used Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones, which have "become targets for Russian air defense systems," raising concerns in the Pentagon about how their drones would perform under such conditions. In September, the Wall Street Journal reported that a group of U.S. lawmakers urged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to transfer high-tech combat drones to Ukraine.