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Ukraine and the United States are in detailed talks on a deal involving US investment in Kyiv's domestic drone production, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Friday.
The announcement comes a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tasked a reshuffled new government with scaling up Ukraine's arms industry and strengthening ties with its strategic partners.
Svyrydenko, speaking to reporters alongside several other new ministers in the capital Kyiv, said the deal would also lead to the US, Ukraine's biggest military backer in its war with Russia, purchasing Ukrainian drones.
"We plan to sign a 'drone deal' with the United States. We are discussing investments in the expansion of production of Ukrainian drones by the US," she said.
"That is, we are talking about the purchase of a large batch of Ukrainian drones."
Svyrydenko added that a political decision on the deal had been made by Zelenskiy and President Donald Trump, and that officials were already hashing out the details.
Zelenskiy told the New York Post this week that he and Trump were considering a deal for Washington to buy battlefield-tested Ukrainian drones in exchange for Kyiv purchasing weapons from the US.
The Ukrainian government under Svyrydenko is expected to shore up ties with the Trump administration, which has grown increasingly critical of Russia since it stepped up air strikes on Ukraine.
Svyrydenko is well-known in Washington, having negotiated a high-level deal offering the US preferential access to Ukraine's mineral wealth that will feed a reconstruction fund.
At the briefing in Kyiv, economy minister Oleksiy Sobolev said the board of a joint US-Ukrainian fund will meet for the first time by the end of the summer.
US President Donald Trump's 30 per cent tariffs are threatening to take the fizz out of the French champagne industry.
Blast at Los Angeles sheriff's facility leaves 3 dead, media reports
An explosion at a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department training facility has killed three deputies, Fox News and local media reported on Friday, though officials have not yet confirmed any deaths.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department confirmed that an explosion occurred at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training in East Los Angeles. The spokesperson said the cause was under investigation and that they were not yet ready to confirm any deaths or injuries.
The Los Angeles Times newspaper, citing unnamed sources, reported that a bomb squad was moving some explosives when the blast occurred.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media that she had spoken US Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli "about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles."
Bondi said that federal agents were at the scene and working to learn more.