Ukraine outpaces U.S. military in managing uncrewed battlefield warfare - Senator Lankford
Lankford praises Ukrainian drone warfare (Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis)
The Ukrainian military leads the world, including the United States, in managing uncrewed airspace and manufacturing cutting-edge weapons systems, U.S. Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma said after Kyiv visit, Politico wrote on Aug. 25.
Ukraine now outpaces all other global militaries in deploying uncrewed aerial platforms across a spectrum of operational tasks, he highlighted.
"The Ukrainian military is ahead of every other military in the world, including ours, in managing uncrewed airspace: both in countering drones and in offensive drone operations... Nobody in the world does this as efficiently or produces such quantities of cutting-edge weapons systems as they do," senator stated.
In his trip, Lankford held a 20-minute meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alongside Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. The Ukrainian president specifically stressed the urgent necessity of accelerating secondary sanctions pressure on Russia.
At the same time, Lankford could not provide Zelenskyy with a definitive timeline for when the U.S. Congress will pass new sanctions legislation. According to Lankford, the House of Representatives plans to take up the relevant bill in September, though he noted that the legislative schedule remains outside his direct control. Politico noted that Lankford, a long-standing supporter of Ukraine, has actively championed the sanctions bill following the death of Senator Lindsey Graham, urging colleagues to finish the work Graham initiated.
Lindsey Graham Sanctions Bill
In early April 2025, a sweeping sanctions bill targeting Russia was introduced in the U.S. Senate, proposing a 500% tariff on imports from countries that continue purchasing Russian crude oil and other raw commodities. The legislation was co-authored by Senators Lindsey Graham (Republican) and Richard Blumenthal (Democrat).
In June 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration sought to persuade Graham to soften the legislation. Politico also indicated that the bill faced potential dilution prior to final passage.
On July 10, 2026, at a press conference on a visit to Kyiv, Graham announced that an agreement had been reached with the White House administration on a revised draft of the sanctions bill against Russia.
On July 11, shortly after returning from Ukraine, senator passed away from what preliminary reports identified as an aortic rupture.
On July 14, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the sanctions package against Russia could soon be expanded to include penalties against Iran and the Hezbollah militant group, remarking that "Lindsey really wanted that."
CNN reported that negotiations between the White House and Congressional lawmakers since April 2025 led to an agreement reducing proposed tariff rates from 500% down to 100%.
On July 28, the U.S. Senate held an initial procedural vote on the revised legislation targeting Russia and Iran, advancing the bill with broad bipartisan support from 86 senators.
However, several policy analysts have voiced concerns that Trump might not apply the broad executive authorities granted under the bill as the Senate originally envisioned, The Wall Street Journal reported. Edward Fishman, a former senior U.S. sanctions official, suggested that Trump could potentially leverage the tariff mechanisms to wage trade disputes "against both friends and foes alike."
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