Pentagon: Ukraine Doesn’t Need US Missiles to Strike Russia, Can Use Drones

Lloyd Austin has suggested that Ukraine use its long-range drones instead

Ukraine’s long-range drones are highly effective and more cost-efficient than Western missiles, and Kyiv doesn’t require anyone else’s authorization to deploy them, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has stated.

Kyiv has been pressing for Western long-range weapons and permission to use them for strikes deep within Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that this would mean direct conflict with the West and suggested altering Moscow’s nuclear doctrine accordingly.

Speaking to reporters after the NATO defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Friday, Austin avoided the question about Western long-range missiles that suggested Putin’s “nuclear blackmail” was successful.

He also denied that the US may have instructed Ukraine to stop striking deep into Russia with drones.

“We’ve observed Ukrainians employing their long-range UAV strike capability to great effect,” Austin told reporters. “They’re capable of producing these UAVs within Ukraine. They’re able to scale that production rapidly. The UAV’s have proven to be highly effective and accurate.”

“When you consider the fact that a single precision-guided missile costs, in some cases, close to $1 million – depending on the specific type – and these UAVs they can manufacture in large numbers at a fraction of the cost,” Austin continued. “So you look at the cost-benefit analysis, and the effects being achieved on the battlefield, I believe this is a significant capability.”

“How they utilize the capability that they’re producing is going to be their decision,” the Pentagon head emphasized.

Earlier this year, Ukraine launched a series of drone attacks on Russian infrastructure, including oil depots and refineries. The US government urged Kiev to cease the strikes, out of concern that they could significantly disrupt oil prices during the election year.

Austin himself told the Senate in April that he was concerned about “knock-on effects in terms of the global energy situation” from Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries. Meanwhile, one of his deputies Celeste Wallander told lawmakers that the strikes “have not substantially altered Russia’s ability to prosecute the war.

Moscow’s response to Kyiv’s drone offensive was a series of missile strikes that crippled Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Ukrainian long-range attacks have become significantly less frequent since.