U.S. Won’t Send Advanced Drones to Ukraine in Bid to Avoid War Escalation

The Pentagon declined the request based on concerns that providing the Gray Eagle MQ-1C drones could escalate the conflict and signal to Moscow that the U.S. was providing weapons that could target positions inside Russia, U.S. officials and other people familiar with the decision said.

U.S. officials, at times, have also worried that the technology aboard the drone could be stolen on the battlefield. But those concerns, that the cameras on board the platform could be stolen if the aircraft were to be shot down, weren’t a central aspect of the decision, officials said.