Zelenskyy: Ukraine using its drone expertise against Iran

Kyiv: Ukrainian officials are helping five countries in the Middle East and Gulf region counter attacks on their territory by Iranian drones, while the United States and European countries are among others who have requested support, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday.

Ukraine is also looking into whether it can have a role in restoring security in the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war, he said.

Ukraine has become one of the world’s leading producers of cutting-edge, battle-tested drone interceptors that are cheap and effective. They play a key part in its defense against Russia’s more than 4-year-old full-scale invasion.

“Our teams are already working with five countries on countering (Iran’s) Shahed’ drones — we have provided expert assessments and are helping build a defence system,” Zelenskyy said on X.

Zelenskyy has previously said he hoped to provide expertise to Arab Gulf countries targeted by Iranian Shahed drones, versions of which are heavily used by Moscow’s invading forces, in exchange for advanced air defence missiles that Ukraine needs to counter devastating Russian aerial attacks.

Kyiv fears it will get fewer of the sophisticated missiles it needs to fend off the Russian strikes as the Iran war burns through stockpiles.

Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council who led a delegation to the Middle East and Gulf this week, said that Ukraine has deployed interceptor units there to help protect civilian and critical infrastructure and is working to expand that protection.

He said on the Telegram messaging app that Ukrainian military specialists are operating in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan.

Ukraine is assessing further steps for long-term security cooperation with each of those countries, Umerov said.