'Small Number' of Ukraine Soldiers Get Drone Training in US

Illustrative: This image provided by the US Marine Corps shows a Switchblade 300 10C drone system being used as part of a training exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, on September 24, 2021. (Cpl. Alexis Moradian/US Marine Corps via AP)
Illustrative: This image provided by the US Marine Corps shows a Switchblade 300 10C drone system being used as part of a training exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, on September 24, 2021. (Cpl. Alexis Moradian/US Marine Corps via AP)
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'Small Number' of Ukraine Soldiers Get Drone Training in US

Illustrative: This image provided by the US Marine Corps shows a Switchblade 300 10C drone system being used as part of a training exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, on September 24, 2021. (Cpl. Alexis Moradian/US Marine Corps via AP)
Illustrative: This image provided by the US Marine Corps shows a Switchblade 300 10C drone system being used as part of a training exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, on September 24, 2021. (Cpl. Alexis Moradian/US Marine Corps via AP)

Ukrainian soldiers are being trained in the United States to operate the deadly Switchblade drones that Washington is supplying to Kyiv, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.

Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said it was a "very small" number of Ukrainian troops who were already present in the US before Russia invaded their country, AFP said.

"We took the opportunity, having them still in the country, to give them a couple of days' worth of training on the Switchblades, so they can go back... to train others in the Ukrainian military," according to Kirby.

He said the 100 drones, which are essentially remotely controlled flying bombs which are crashed into targets where they explode, have been sent to Ukraine to bolster the military's fight against Russian troops.

"They arrived over there earlier this week. So they'll be getting into Ukraine quickly if they aren't already there," Kirby said, adding that the number of Ukrainian trainees was less than a dozen.

President Joe Biden announced on March 16 that, among other weaponry and munitions Washington was shipping to the Ukrainians, it would start sending the Switchblades.

Named for the way their wings unfold when launched, Switchblades are called loitering munitions, because they can be flown to target areas and held there until the right moment when a target is identified.

The operator then flies them into the target where they explode.

The original version, small enough to carry in a backpack, was used by US forces in Afghanistan.

A larger version, with enough explosives to take out armored vehicles, has also been developed. But the Pentagon would not say which one has been sent to Ukraine, if not both.

Meanwhile the United States announced Tuesday it was releasing another $100 million worth of military aid to Ukraine as its forces push Russians out from the Kyiv region.

Six weeks after Russia invaded and tried to quickly capture the capital, Kirby said they failed and had "completely withdrawn" from the Kyiv area as well as Chernigiv to the north.

Moscow has indicated it is preparing to intensify fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine, where its forces hold major chunks of territory.

But Kirby said the Pentagon had not yet seen a significant influx of reinforcement troops into that region, particularly the pro-Moscow Donbas area.



Russia: Hypersonic Missile Strike on Ukraine Was a Warning to 'Reckless' West

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
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Russia: Hypersonic Missile Strike on Ukraine Was a Warning to 'Reckless' West

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS

The Kremlin said on Friday that a strike on Ukraine using a newly developed hypersonic ballistic missile was designed as a message to the West that Moscow will respond to their "reckless" decisions and actions in support of Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was speaking a day after President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had fired the new missile - the Oreshnik or Hazel Tree - at a Ukrainian military facility.
"The main message is that the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries that produce missiles, supply them to Ukraine and subsequently participate in strikes on Russian territory cannot remain without a reaction from the Russian side," Peskov told reporters.
"The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns are not taken into account have been quite clearly outlined,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
Peskov said Russia had not been obliged to warn the United States about the strike, but had informed the US 30 minutes before the launch anyway.
President Vladimir Putin remained open to dialogue, Peskov said, but he said the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden "prefers to continue down the path of escalation".
Putin said on Thursday that Russia had fired the new missile after Ukraine, with approval from the Biden administration, struck Russia with six US-made ATACMS missiles on Tuesday and with British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and US-made HIMARS on Thursday.
He said this meant that the Ukraine war had now "acquired elements of a global character".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russia's use of the new missile amounted to "a clear and severe escalation" in the war and called for strong worldwide condemnation.