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Washington Further Provokes Moscow With Rumors of Pending Hellfire Missile Drone Sale To Ukraine

Neil Campbell
Neil lives in Canada and writes about society and politics.
Published: June 3, 2022
The Biden Admin is courting nuclear war with Russia as it plans to donate four Hellfire missile drones to Ukraine.
A Hellfire missile hangs from a U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator drone at a secret air base in the Persian Gulf region on Jan. 7, 2016. Washington is set to donate four MQ-1C drones equipped with Hellfire Missiles to Ukraine, upping the risk of retaliation by Russia, a Reuters report states. Image: John Moore/Getty Images)

The Joe Biden Administration is planning on selling Ukraine a quartet of high-level drones that can be equipped with Hellfire missiles, according to a Reuters report. 

The rumor spread from a June 1 exclusive published by Reuters citing “three people familiar with the situation.”

According to the anons, Washington is planning on selling four General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones in a scheme that “has been under review at the Pentagon for several weeks.”

Reuters said the drones are a big upgrade for Ukraine over the smaller drones current employed, such as the Turkish Bayraktar-TB2, “But the Gray Eagle represents a leap in technology because it can fly up to 30 or more hours depending on its mission and can gather huge amounts of data for intelligence purposes.”

The article then elucidates the significance of the sale in the U.S. and International Rules Based Order’s proxy war against Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation, “The sale is significant because it puts an advanced reusable U.S. system capable of multiple deep strikes on the battlefield against Russia for the first time.”

MORE ON GLOBAL DANGERS OF A PROXY WAR IN UKRAINE

In addition to the sources an additional “U.S. official” stated that Biden intended to inform Congress “in the coming days with a public announcement expected after that.”

Sources also revealed this idea has been in motion for some time, since training for the drones “often takes months,” but “a notional plan to train experienced Ukrainian maintainers and operators in a handful of weeks has been proposed in recent weeks,” one of the sources admitted.

The article also confirmed that Hellfires are certain to be provided, “Arming the drones with Hellfire missiles will be done via a future Presidential Drawdown Authority once training on the drones has been completed, the U.S. official and one of the sources said.”

HIMARS and nuclear shadows

The Reuters exclusive quietly made the rounds the same day that the Biden Administration openly announced it would be providing Ukraine with the HIMARS MLRS system, a significant upgrade over the units currently employed by both Russia and Ukraine, as they boast a 50 mile range.

The upgrade will allow Ukraine to strike Russian positions while remaining outside the range of Russian artillery fire.

The Putin Administration did not appear to take the news so lightheartedly, as one member of the State Duma appeared on Russian television program Rossiya 1 the same day shouting loudly about how two of the recently showcased SARMAT II hypersonic missiles could wipe out the entire East coast of the United States if equipped with nuclear payloads.

During the same segment, New York Post reported that host Olga Skabeyeva, who the outlet describes as “Putin’s state TV propagandist,” stated that the Special Military Operation in Ukraine was over. 

She clarified, “A real war has already begun — World War III…We are forced to conduct a demilitarization not only of Ukraine, but of the entire NATO alliance.”

“There are so many people who have lined up to interfere with the Russia’s special operation on the Ukrainian territory that we must act,” she continued. 

“But we have yet to figure out how to act without resorting to a nuclear strike.”

A tense situation

The brinkmanship is no laughing matter. When Russia finally crossed Ukraine’s borders to begin its Special Military Operation in late February, during a televised address to the Russian people and the world, Putin warned countries and entities who were considering interventions, “Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.”

Despite copious forms of proxy and passive involvement by the United States and other NATO countries, the Kremlin has thus far refrained from taking any major action. 

However, Putin did send one big message to the NATO bloc when in mid-March, Russia deployed hypersonic missiles with non-nuclear payloads to annihilate a key base in Yavoriv, which is inside Ukraine territory near the border with Poland, shortly after foreign mercenaries had arrived. 

According to reports by western media at the time, 30 rockets had been deployed, destroying the facility and causing at least 35 casualties and 130 injuries.

Yavoriv was a significantly notable location because it had served as a NATO training facility since as far back as 1995.

Highlighting the significance of weapons donations that have the capability of hitting Russian territory from within Ukraine, during the morning of June 2, Russian state media outlet TASS published comments from a diplomat participating in talks in Vienna that were unambiguous.

“We resolutely warn the US and its satellites that any such step will be considered as a military attack on our country and will inevitably lead to an unacceptable escalation of the conflict,” the official said referencing a scenario where HIMARS were to be deployed in an area where it could strike Kaliningrad.

And added, “Any attempts to get even on Snake [Island] will be harshly intercepted.”

TASS made no mention of the Gray Eagle drone sale except for a terse 109 word rewrite of the Reuters report the same day, while Russia Today produced a slightly longer version with no particular posture or overtones applied.

RT, however, did briefly mention the sale in a second June 2 article that reported that Interpol Secretary General Juergen Stock had warned that criminal elements “exploit these chaotic situations” to get their hands on weaponry utilized by militaries and donated from outside during an armed conflict.