Ukraine dispatches drone experts to three Middle East countries
Ukraine has sent air defence teams to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to assist them in defending against Iran’s aerial attacks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday.
His communications adviser also said Ukrainian specialists had already been deployed to a U.S. military base in Jordan, without providing details.
Zelenskiy said the presence of Ukrainian pilots was key to the effectiveness of interceptor drone operations.
"Even those countries that were quietly buying interceptors have, I think, realised that without our military, our operators, our software... without all of that, the interceptors simply don't work."
Since the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes on Iran on February 28, Ukraine has sought to leverage its long experience of countering Russia's Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones.
Kyiv says Russia - which now manufactures them itself - has launched more than 57,000 Shahed-type drones at Ukraine so far.
Reuters reported last week that the U.S. and Qatar were looking to buy interceptor drones from Ukraine as a much cheaper alternative to missiles for downing Shaheds.
Asked what Kyiv would get in return for the deployment of the specialist teams, Zelenskiy said Ukraine was seeking air defence missiles above all else.
Kyiv has complained for months of critical shortages of those munitions, particularly for the U.S.-made Patriot systems which are the Ukraine's only effective tool to intercept ballistic missiles.
The Iran war has delayed a fresh round of peace talks brokered by Washington between Russia and Ukraine.
Zelenskiy told reporters on Tuesday the next trilateral meeting had been postponed to next week, adding that he wanted more swaps of prisoners of war and discussion of a possible meeting between himself, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
By Ulviyya Salmanli
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