The United States and its allies in the Middle East are looking to Ukraine’s expertise to counter Iran’s Shahed drones, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Several countries, including the United States, have approached Ukraine for help defending against Iranian drones, Zelenskyy said late Wednesday. He said he has spoken in recent days with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait about possible cooperation.
Ukrainian assistance in countering Iranian drones will be provided only if it does not weaken Ukraine’s own defenses, the Ukrainian president said, and if it adds leverage to kyiv’s diplomatic efforts to stop the Russian invasion.
“We help defend from war those who help us, Ukraine, bring a just end to the war” with Russia, Zelenskyy said. Later on Thursday, Zelenskyy said he had received a request for support from the United States to defend against drones in the Middle East and had given the order for equipment to be provided along with Ukrainian experts, without providing further details.
“Ukraine helps partners who contribute to our security and the protection of the lives of our people,” he added in a post on social media.
Trump, in an interview on Thursday with Reuters, said: “I will certainly accept any help from any country.”
Russia has sent tens of thousands of Shaheds into Ukraine since it invaded its neighbor just over four years ago, at one point launching a swarm of more than 800 drones and decoys in its largest ever nighttime bombing raid.
Iran has responded to joint attacks by the United States and Israel by launching the same type of drones against Middle Eastern countries.
Ukraine has pioneered the development of cut-price drone destruction kits that cost as little as $1,000, rewriting the air defense rule book and making other countries take notice.
Ukrainian manufacturers have developed low-cost interceptor drones designed specifically to hunt and destroy Shaheds, and their rapidly expanding drone industry is producing excess capacity.
European countries received a wake-up call in September last year about the changing nature of air defense when Poland assembled multibillion-dollar military assets, including F-35 and F-16 fighter jets and Black Hawk helicopters, in response to airspace violations by cheap drones.
Zelenskyy announced earlier this year that Ukraine would begin exporting the battle-tested systems.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said before chairing a meeting of EU and Gulf foreign ministers on Thursday that the talks would look at how Ukraine’s experience can help countries counter Iranian drones.
The Iran war, now in its sixth day, has diverted international attention from Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II and forced the postponement of a new round of US-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine scheduled for this week, Zelenskyy said.
“At the moment, due to the situation around Iran, there are still no necessary signals for a trilateral meeting,” Zelenskyy said. “But as soon as the security situation and the general political context allow us to resume that trilateral diplomatic work, it will be done.”
Oleksandr Merezhko, head of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to prolong negotiations so he could press ahead with the Russian invasion while escaping new U.S. sanctions.
He urged the US administration to view the war between Russia and Ukraine and the war in the Middle East as linked.
“In reality, Russia and Iran are close allies acting in concert: Iran supplies weapons and Russia helps Iran develop its defense industry. These are interconnected conflicts,” Merezhko told the Associated Press.
Ukraine’s military has recently pushed back Russian forces at some points along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Localized Ukrainian counterattacks liberated more territory than Ukrainian forces lost in the last two weeks of February, the Washington-based think tank said this week, estimating the ground regained at about 257 square kilometers (100 square miles) since Jan. 1.
