Conflict · Ukraine secures drone deals · ArchiveUkraine Closes Drone Deals with 7+ NATO Allies at SummitAired July 7, 2026 at 4:10 AM UTCWritten September 7, 2026 at 9:22 PM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:00And here's something that may shape how0:02those conversations in Ankara play out0:04because as President Zelensky [music]0:06arrives at the NATO summit asking allies0:08for more Patriot interceptors,0:10>> [music]0:10>> his country is also showing up with0:12something to sell. Ukraine is now0:14closing drone technology deals with at0:16least seven NATO countries. After more0:19than four years of war, the country that0:22once depended entirely on Western0:24military aid has become something else0:26[music] entirely. Brian Whitmore, a0:29senior fellow at the Atlantic Council,0:32says Ukraine's battlefield drone0:33innovation is now a genuine export.0:36These drones fly low enough to slip0:38[music] under Russian radar and have0:40proven they can hit targets deep inside0:42Russia. The same engineering culture0:45that produced drones striking nearly0:473,000 kilometers through Russian0:48airspace is now being packaged for0:51allied [music] militaries. The dynamic0:53in Ankara is more complex than it first0:55[music] appears.0:57Ukraine needs the alliance's air defense0:59systems to protect its cities, but NATO1:02is also looking at Ukraine's drones and1:04the hard-won battlefield expertise1:06behind them as exactly the kind of1:08asymmetric capability the alliance wants1:11more of.1:12For the first time in this war,1:14President Zelensky arrives [music]1:16not only as a leader asking for help, he1:19arrives as the head of a country that1:21can contribute directly to the1:22alliance's security.1:24The exchange, [music] finally, may run1:26in both directions.Explore with HeyDexFollow via RSS