Ukraine signs a deal with U.S. companies to co-produce drones, Zelenskyi says. Ukraine takes out the Russian Navy deputy commander. Ukrainian drones attack Russia’s Lipetsk region, home to an airbase and a battery plant.
Ukraine signs deal with U.S. companies to co-produce drones, Zelenskyi says
Ukraine has signed a deal with several U.S. companies to co-produce drones, including interceptor drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said during a visit to Denmark on Thursday.
He added that the agreement was signed during his visit to Denmark on Thursday morning.
“This is co-production between Ukraine and the U.S., there will be several companies. The focus will be on various types of drones. What’s most important is [a manufactuing goal of] hundreds of thousands [drones] this year with scaling up the production next year,” Zelenskyi said.
“The key priority is interceptor drones that have already proven effective in Ukraine. We’ve tested models from several companies, and now we’re signing serious contracts. We’re counting on these interceptors to take down the “Shaheds” in large numbers,” he later added in a post to X.
Some Ukrainian manufacturers will also get access to this technology, Zelenskyi said.
He added that Ukraine has signed “an agreement with the robust American company Swift Beat, and it foresees hundreds of thousands of drones this year alone, with the potential to significantly scale up production in the coming year. Interceptors to destroy enemy drones and missiles, quadcopters for reconnaissance and fire adjustment, and long-range strike drones — all of these will be produced in much greater numbers to help us achieve our defense goals and protect the lives of Ukrainians.”
Ukraine takes out Russian Navy deputy commander
Ukraine took out the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Major General Mikhail Gudkov. The governor of Russia’s Primorsky region, Oleg Kozhemyako confirmed his death on Thursday. Russian milbloggers said Gudkov was killed in a Ukrainian missile strike on the Kursk region.
Kozhemyako also said that Russian marine Nariman Shykhaliyev was killed along with Gudkov.
Gudkov was handed a top military honor by the Kremlin and decorated by authorities of the Primorsky region. He earlier commanded the 155th Separate Guards Naval Infantry Brigade of Russia’s Pacific Fleet. The unit was fighting in the Kursk region while under his command.
Gudkov was appointed as the deputy chief of the Russian Navy in March 2025.
The 155th brigade was originally considered an elite unit. It has sustained staggering losses at least three times. The Russian unit participated in the failed attempt to take Kyiv in spring 2022 and was defeated near the village of Moshchun. It was mauled near the village of Pavlivka, in Donetsk region, in November 2022 and almost entirely destroyed during the offensive on Vuhledar in February 2023. The unit participated in a renewed Russian offensive on Kharkiv in summer 2024 and took serious losses there. It was then redeployed to fight off Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
The Ukrainian military had previously accused the 155th brigade of committing war crimes in Ukraine, including the killing of civilians in the towns of Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel in the early months of Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine drones attack Russia’s Lipetsk region, home to airbase, battery plant
Ukrainian drones attacked four Russian regions overnight into Thursday, local authorities said. In the Lipetsk region, explosions rocked the city of Lipetsk that hosts a military airbase and the city of Yelets, home to a battery plant.
Governor of the Lipetsk region, Igor Artamonov said: “A drone falling on a parking lot of one of the plants in Yelets caused a fire. It has been contained. Workers from nearby workshops have been evacuated. As per preliminary reports, there were no casualties.”
Artamonov did not specify which plant was targeted but said there were reports of falling drone debris in various districts.
He added that debris had fallen on a private home in the Lipetsk district, killing one person and injuring two others, while another drone had hit a section of an apartment building being constructed in Yelets.
Eyewitness accounts cited by the Astra Telegram channel described hearing a large number of explosions. Geolocated footage indicates that the target of the attack was the Energiya plant in Yelets, which manufactures batteries for drones, aircraft and warships, it added.
The plant previously came under attack on May 23.
Lipetsk hosts a military airbase, home to Su-34, Su-35 and MiG-31 aircraft. It was previously targeted in August 2024.
Governor of the Voronezh region, Aleksandr Gusev said a drone strike had damaged a roof of a private home in the city of Voronezh and knocked out power to a village after a powerline sustained damage.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the air defenses had destroyed 69 Ukrainian drones with 27 intercepted over the Belgorod region, 22 in Voronezh, 10 in Lipetsk, eight in Kursk and two over occupied Crimea.
Regional authorities in Belgorod and Kursk did not report the attacks.
Russia’s aviation authority temporarily halted flights in Saratov and Tambov.
Acting governor of the Tambov region, Yevgeny Pervyshov said three employees were killed after a plant in the city of Kotovsk caught fire. He said the cause of the fire was technical. He did not specify which plant was affected. According to media reports, Kotovsk is home to plants that manufacture gunpowder, plastics and industrial equipment.
