Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed that the United States, under President Donald Trump’s administration, redirected 20,000 anti-drone missiles originally meant for Ukraine to American forces in the Middle East.
In an interview with ABC News published on Sunday, Zelensky explained that Ukraine had been counting on the missile delivery to strengthen its defence against relentless Russian drone attacks, particularly the Iranian-made Shahed drones.
He said the plan—developed during President Joe Biden’s term and coordinated with then-Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin—was intended to provide a cost-effective, specialised missile system to counter aerial threats.
“We have big problems with Shaheds… we will find all the tools to destroy them. We counted on this project, 20,000 missiles. Anti-Shahed missiles. It was not expensive, but it’s a special technology,” Zelensky stated.
According to a June 4 report by The Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration ordered the diversion of the missiles, including specialised fuzes for the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, citing an urgent need to support US forces in the Middle East. The decision was reportedly conveyed to Congress through a classified Pentagon message and made under current Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
A Ukrainian military intelligence source told The Kyiv Independent that Russia is preparing to escalate its drone campaign, potentially launching over 500 long-range drones in a single night, as it ramps up production and expands launch capacity.
Since the start of Trump’s second term in January, his administration has frozen new US military aid packages to Ukraine. Though shipments were briefly halted earlier this year, they resumed after Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire framework during peace talks held in Jeddah on March 11.
