Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that his country has “undoubtedly changed the geopolitical situation” in the Middle East with a decade-long series of defense deals with Gulf states hit by Iranian drones and missiles.
What? And what significance does the agreement have for Ukraine, more than four years into the Russian invasion and facing its own military, economic and diplomatic challenges?
The Ukrainian leader has been on a whirlwind tour of the Gulf in recent days – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar – touting what he calls Kyiv’s world-leading air defense.
Ukraine has developed an array of tools to counter Russian drone night attacks, among them cheap and highly effective drone-on-drone interceptors.
Moscow’s drones are based on Iranian Shahed missiles being launched by Tehran across the region – attacks it says are in retaliation for US and Israeli airstrikes against Iran.
Zelensky has sought to create an opportunity from the war, which otherwise benefits Russia through higher oil prices and a possible drop in Western arms supplies to Kyiv.
