Trump: “Ukraine is militarily defeated.” Moscow on Drone Deals: “Money laundering scheme”

Donald Trump has once again spoken out on the war in Ukraine with blunt words: Kyiv is defeated on a military level. However, it was a statement that left more than a few observers perplexed, given that the American president chose to illustrate it with references to the Iranian conflict.

“I think Ukraine, militarily, is defeated,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They had 159 ships. Every single ship right now is underwater,” a claim that commentators interpreted as a confused reference to the Iranian fleet in the Red Sea, rather than the Ukrainian one.

Asked which of the two conflicts, Ukraine or Iran, might find a solution first, Trump did not rule out a simultaneous resolution: “They could be resolved at the same time.”

Moscow against Kyiv: “Drone Deals is a corruption scheme.”

On the Russian front, the Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador-at-Large, Rodion Miroshnik, harshly dismantled the Ukrainian drone export project presented yesterday by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy under the name Drone Deals.

“This latest much-hyped stunt by Zelenskyy, with the high-sounding name of ‘Drone Deals,’ is in all likelihood a corruption scheme invented by the European supporters of the Ukrainian project to launder European funds intended for armaments,” Miroshnik declared.

According to the Russian diplomat, the operation has a dual purpose: on one hand, to fuel the illusion that Ukraine is not entirely dependent on foreign aid; on the other, to allow Ukrainian shell companies to insert themselves into European military spending chains, returning part of the funds, as a “thank you”, to the political leaders who have worked hardest to increase funding for Kyiv.

Zelenskyy had presented Drone Deals as a special cooperation format with allied countries, which would include the joint production and supply of drones, missiles, ammunition, combat vehicles, and defense software.

Photo Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay.com