“This cooperation can be mutually beneficial,” says Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukraine signed a defense cooperation pact with Saudi Arabia on Friday, as Gulf countries look to Kyiv for assistance on defending against drone attacks from Iran.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the agreement with senior Saudi officials during his two-day visit to Riyadh.
The accord “lays the foundation for future contracts, technological cooperation, and investment. It also strengthens Ukraine’s international role as a security donor,” Zelenskyy announced Friday morning.
“We are ready to share our expertise and systems with Saudi Arabia and to work together to strengthen the protection of lives. Now into the fifth year, Ukrainians are resisting the same kind of terrorist attacks — ballistic missiles and drones — that the Iranian regime is currently carrying out in the Middle East and the Gulf region,” Zelenskyy added.
“Saudi Arabia also has capabilities that are of interest to Ukraine, and this cooperation can be mutually beneficial,” he said, without specifying details.
Since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran in February, Saudi Arabia — plus many other countries in the Gulf and Middle East — have suffered from Iranian retaliatory drone attacks against energy, military and civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine is one of the only countries in the world, having lived under massive Russian drone swarms since 2022, that has learned how to repel the attacks, using cheap Ukrainian-made interceptor drones.
Since the start of the Iran war, Kyiv has been pitching its unique experience and interceptors to the Middle Eastern countries, which use expensive PAC-3 and other missiles that Ukraine lacks, to shoot down Iranian drones.
Ukraine has also sent more than 200 of its own drone-сcountering experts to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Some 30 more were heading to Jordan and Kuwait, Zelenskyy told reporters via WhatsApp chat last week.
“I would like to note that local air defense specialists are at a fairly high level, by the way, but they mostly work with ballistic threats. As for short-range air defense — how to counter massive “Shahed” [Iranian-made kamikaze drones] attacks — I believe no one has,” Zelenskyy said previously.
Earlier, Zelenskyy said he would gladly trade Ukraine’s interceptor drones and expertise for PAC-3 missiles, which Gulf countries possess plenty of. In the first days of the war, they used more than 800 PAC missiles, while Kyiv has only received about 600 since 2022, according to reporting in the New York Times.
Ukraine is set to sign further agreements in the region, according to Zelenskyy.
“They[Middle East and Gulf countries] have strong financial resources and experience in dealing with ballistic threats, but they need our expertise in countering drones. This includes all types of drones, ‘Shahed’ drones which cause serious damage to infrastructure, and FPV-drones which are now used for targeted attacks on military bases and equipment in the region,” Zelenskyy said Thursday in a video address to a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) conference, which discussed combating Russia.
“The first agreements have already been prepared by our teams. Ukraine has the world’s strongest experience in using drones. We offer the Middle East and Gulf countries a partnership that benefits both sides: our knowledge and technology, and their funding. And we are working to make this happen. Our contribution to security in that region will also be a real contribution to global security,” Zelenskyy added.