Pentagon Unclear About Sending Reaper Drones To Ukraine - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2022) The US Air Force had planned to supply Ukraine with older MQ-9 Reaper (Predator B) drones, but the issue has resulted in a prolonged stalemate due to the Pentagon's concerns, Politico reports citing sources.

The Air Force made the proposal to scrap older versions of its Reaper fleet about a month after the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in February of this year.

However, the Pentagon has yet to make a decision on the issue, which has raised concerns over the transfer of sensitive technology to Kiev, four people familiar with the issue told Politico.

In addition, the Pentagon has also pointed to the fact that Reaper drones, built to support US forces in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where there was no danger of them being shot down, would "almost certainly" be shot down in Ukraine, Politico said on Friday.

The US Congress has turned down several of the Air Force's proposals on scrapping older versions of the Reaper drone.

According to Politico, the most recent proposal was in the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which requests the transfer of 100 Reaper drones to another government agency.

Since Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, the collective West has been providing Kiev with humanitarian, military and financial aid in the amount of dozens of billions of Dollars. Russia has denounced the flow of weapons to Ukraine from the collective West and warned that any cargo containing weapons bound for Ukraine is a legitimate target.

According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the United States plans to continue "fueling" the conflict in Ukraine at least until the end of 2025, which can be concluded from official documents that Washington is openly releasing.