The Biden administration has rejected pleas from Ukraine and a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers to supply President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's military with advanced drones, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Defense Department refused the request based on concerns that providing the drones could escalate the war between Ukraine and Russia, WSJ reported Thursday.
Pentagon officials are worried that President Vladimir Putin would see a supply of drones as a sign the U.S. was providing weapons that could target positions inside Russia, officials told the outlet.
Although not a primary reason for the refusal, there's also a concern within the Pentagon that technology aboard the drone could be stolen on the battlefield.
The WSJ report came after Iran recently admitted that it was supplying drones to Russia for use in the war.
The Russian drones are being dive-bombed into civilian targets and infrastructure in Ukraine.
A General Atomics spokesman, whose company manufactures the Gray Eagle MQ-1C drones, confirmed that the corporation was made aware of the administration's decision. The spokesman declined to offer details.
Republican and Democrat lawmakers have encouraged the administration to give Ukraine the medium altitude, armed drones that can fly for more than 24 hours.
Seventeen House Democrats and Republicans sent a Sept. 21 letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, pressing him to provide advanced drones to Ukraine, saying the technology could be key to giving Kyiv a battlefield advantage.
"While important, thorough risk assessments and mitigation should not come at the expense of Ukrainian lives," the bipartisan group of legislators wrote in their September letter, WSJ reported.
Without the advanced drones, Ukraine's military struggles to defend civilian populations and infrastructure that Russia has targeted throughout the war, advocates said.
"Ukrainians have shown they are capable and responsible stewards of the military aid that we the United States provide them," Mykola Murskyj, director of government affairs for Razom for Ukraine, told WSJ.
"It means Ukrainian soldiers have to put their lives at risk to take out artillery positions that are bombing Ukrainian towns and villages."
On Wednesday, Russia ordered troops to withdraw from near the strategic southern Ukrainian city of Kherson in one of its biggest setbacks of the war so far. However, Ukraine said it remained doubtful that Putin's troops would leave without a fight.
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