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Drone deal and range
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said cooperation between Kyiv and Washington on drones would include a U.S. factory to produce unmanned aerial vehicles using Ukraine's advanced technology, and he said, "We will build a great factory in the United States."
“"We will build a great factory in the United States."”
Zelenskiy also said Ukraine’s drone range is expected to expand from "3,000-plus kilometers" to "4,000 kilometers" this year and "from 5,000 to 10,000" next year, in an interview released on Friday, July 24.
A Reuters report from Kyiv quoted a source familiar with the matter saying Ukraine agreed to export drones to the United States to participate in the Pentagon's Drone Dominance programme, and the report said six Ukrainian companies received permission to export about 100 drones each.
Zelenskiy said drone technology is undergoing constant change, and he told Laura Loomer that Ukrainian drones can operate over 3,000 km (1,800 miles) with the prospect of even longer distances.
The Kyiv Post reported Zelensky first officially announced that Ukraine had successfully tested a long-range drone capable of covering 3,000 kilometers on March 17, when he said it "will help guarantee the security of our state."
Attacks, casualties, and claims
Ukraine’s drone campaign against Russian infrastructure was described by Forbes as hitting two distribution centers in St. Petersburg belonging to billionaire Tatyana Kim’s Wildberries, bringing the number of attacks on her to seven.
Forbes said the attacks on Wildberries began a week ago and that with the two new St. Petersburg attacks more than half of Wildberries biggest centers had gone up in billowing clouds of black smoke.
Forbes reported that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky cheered the attacks, saying the warehouses deep inside Russia were legitimate military targets because Wildberries enables the sale and distribution of tactical military items, including drones, navigation systems, flak jackets and flags and patches commemorating Vladimir Putin’s four-year “special military operation” against Ukraine.
In a separate account, the 조선일보 report said CIA Director John Ratcliffe stated that Russian new recruits are estimated to be killed or injured within an average of 20–30 minutes after arriving at the battlefield.
The 조선일보 report quoted Ratcliffe saying, “The average expected survival time for Russian recruits arriving at the Ukrainian battlefield is currently estimated at 20–30 minutes.”
Who builds, who disputes
AFP profiles described Iryna Terekh, 34, as the architect of Ukraine’s deep-strike capabilities through her company Fire Point, and it said she directs Fire Point, which has become one of the spearheads of Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities against Russia.
“"L'armée ukrainienne repose aujourd’hui en grande partie sur des volontaires"”
AFP reported that Fire Point screened footage of an oil refinery near Moscow engulfed in flames after being hit by one of its drones at Eurosatory in France, and it said the company chose not to expose at Farnborough in the UK.
AFP quoted Terekh defending her approach by saying, "L'armée ukrainienne repose aujourd’hui en grande partie sur des volontaires," and it said she argues the products must be "simples, clairs, reproductibles."
The Atlantic described an internal feud over Ukraine’s drone success, saying drones now account for more than 80 percent of all battlefield casualties and that Mykhailo Fedorov told it, "We had no financing at first."
The Atlantic also reported that Oleksandr Syrsky argued in a column for Militarnyi that, "Drones alone cannot defeat the Russian army," and it said the front line spans more than 600 miles.
