US and Ukraine in talks on drone investment deal
The announcement comes a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tasked a reshuffled new government with scaling up Ukraine's arms industry and strengthening ties with its strategic partners.
Svyrydenko, speaking to reporters alongside several other new ministers in the capital Kyiv, said the deal would also lead to the US, Ukraine's biggest military backer in its war with Russia, purchasing Ukrainian drones.
"We plan to sign a 'drone deal' with the United States. We are discussing investments in the expansion of production of Ukrainian drones by the US," she said.
"That is, we are talking about the purchase of a large batch of Ukrainian drones."
Svyrydenko added that a political decision on the deal had been made by Zelenskiy and President Donald Trump, and that officials were already hashing out the details.
Zelenskiy told the New York Post this week that he and Trump were considering a deal for Washington to buy battlefield-tested Ukrainian drones in exchange for Kyiv purchasing weapons from the US.
The Ukrainian government under Svyrydenko is expected to shore up ties with the Trump administration, which has grown increasingly critical of Russia since it stepped up air strikes on Ukraine.
Svyrydenko is well-known in Washington, having negotiated a high-level deal offering the US preferential access to Ukraine's mineral wealth that will feed a reconstruction fund.
At the briefing in Kyiv, economy minister Oleksiy Sobolev said the board of a joint US-Ukrainian fund will meet for the first time by the end of the summer.
Meanwhile, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday predicted the Russian economy would withstand the European Union's latest sanctions package and said Moscow would intensify its strikes against Ukraine.
Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, made his comments after the European Union agreed an 18th package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, including measures aimed at dealing further blows to the Russian oil and energy industry.
In a post on his official Telegram channel, Medvedev said the new sanctions would do little to alter Russia's stance on the conflict, just as previous rounds of sanctions had failed to make an impact.
Medvedev, who has emerged as one of the Kremlin's top hawks, said Russia planned to intensify its strikes on Ukraine.
"Strikes against targets in so-called Ukraine, including Kyiv, will be carried out with increasing force", Medvedev said.
US President Donald Trump on Monday announced a toughened stance against Russia, promising a fresh wave of missiles and other weaponry, including Patriot missile defence systems capable of destroying Russian ballistic missiles.
He also gave Russia 50 days to sign up to a ceasefire or face new sanctions.
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