Ukraine offers help downing Iranian drones in exchange for Patriot missiles

By Aliaksandr Kudrytski and Andrea Palasciano

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is trying to leverage his nation’s war savvy to keep it on the world’s agenda as the Iran conflict increasingly absorbs the attention of President Donald Trump, putting the US-brokered peace talks with Russia on indefinite hold.

 

On Thursday, he offered to share his country’s expertise in protecting against explosives-laden Iranian drones, which are swarming the defenses of the US and its West Asia allies. 

 

“Our appeal is very simple: we would like to fill our deficit of Patriot missiles and supply a certain number of interceptors,” Zelenskiy told reporters in Kyiv.

 

 

Earlier, he had suggested that the Arab states could help persuade Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire, giving Kyiv free hands to dispatch anti-drone specialists to the West Asia. He said he had fielded a frenzy of calls from Persian Gulf leaders in recent days, as well as US requests for sharing expertise. 

 

Zelenski said in a post on X late on Thursday that Ukraine received a request from the US to help protect the West Asia region against Iran’s “Shahed” droned. The president gave instructions to provide the necessary means and to ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists who can “guarantee the required security.”

 

The waves of drone attacks by the Islamic Republic are putting a growing strain on the defenses of the US and its partners in the region. US-made Patriot air-defense missiles are effective in stopping Iranian drones as well as the larger missiles they are meant for, but are more expensive than other methods and are in limited supply.

 

For the past four years, Ukraine has faced daily strikes with dozens or often hundreds explosive-laden Shahed-type drones, which are now also produced in Russia. This is the same type of weapon which is used in attacks in the West Asia, EU Foreign Affairs Chief Kaja Kallas said Thursday in Brussels ahead of a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers with their counterparts from the Gulf Cooperation Council.

 

“Ukraine can help the Gulf countries because they have developed drone interceptors and drone protection,” Kallas said. “So we can see also how we can put these things together to help the countries to fight back the drone attacks.”

 

There’s also a bigger underlying problem looming for Ukraine in case the prolonged war in the West Asia begins to swallow the military resources from the US, making it harder for Kyiv’s to get military lifelines. Some of the defense capabilities that are needed in Ukraine are already moving to the Middle East, with disruptions in supply chains and rising oil prices adding more problems, Kallas said. 

 

Behind closed doors, the 27-member bloc is concerned about knock-on effects of the Iran conflict on Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. Munitions used in the region may diminish US stockpiles and potentially hamper American supplies to Ukraine, according to a senior EU official and people familiar with the matter.

 

Strikes on Iranian weapons stocks could also disrupt arms deliveries to Russia, however, the people added.

 

The situation in the West Asia has added urgency to Europe’s quest for more robust air and missile defenses, according to a senior EU official. 

 

Although US-backed militaries are firing advanced PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles in the West Asia against cheap Iranian drones, Ukraine has been strictly using them to down high-speed Russian ballistic projectiles. For drones, Ukraine has a range of other measures, from jamming to heavy machine guns and helicopter cannons, and, more recently, interceptor drones.

 

Europe needs to do more and speed up its own production of drones and interceptor drones, Kallas said. Ukraine, which has been building them in growing numbers, can also share knowledge with Gulf countries to boost production. 

 

“So of course, we are looking into this, but I’m worried that, you know, just the capabilities are limited, and that’s why it will have an impact also on different forces,” Kallas said.