‘Risky moment’: Ukraine treads tightrope with Gulf arms deals
KYIV, UKRAINE—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that his country had “undoubtedly changed the geopolitical situation” in the Middle East with a series of decade-long defense agreements with Gulf states being hit with Iranian drones and missiles.
Has he? And how important are the agreements for Ukraine, more than four years into the Russian invasion and facing its own maelstrom of 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 defenses.
Ukraine has developed a suite of tools to fend off nightly Russian drone attacks, chief among them cheap and highly effective drone-on-drone interceptors.
Moscow’s attack drones are based on the Iranian Shaheds now being fired by Tehran across the region—strikes it says are retaliation for US-Israeli air attacks on Iran.
Zelenskyy has sought to craft an opportunity from the war, which otherwise benefits Russia through higher oil prices and possible slowdowns in Western arms supplies to Kyiv.
Almost immediately, he started offering US allies in the region deals to get their hands on Ukrainian drone interceptors and has dispatched over 200 military experts.
“Surely no one else can help in this way today, with expertise,” he told reporters, including AFP, on Saturday.
Ukraine has for months been downing more than 80 percent of all incoming Russian missiles and drones—typically fired in their hundreds every night—according to AFP analysis of Kyiv’s air force data.
‘Risky moment’
Details of what exactly Ukraine has agreed in the Gulf are slim.
“We are talking about a 10-year cooperation. We have already signed a relevant agreement with Saudi Arabia, we have just signed a similar agreement with Qatar, also for 10 years, we will sign one with the Emirates,” Zelenskyy said.
On the table are coproduction of drones—with factories both in Ukraine and in the Gulf —and expertise sharing, he said, without providing specific information.
It is unclear what Kyiv gets in return, or whether the deals are anything more than simple arms-for-cash.
Zelenskyy—who had originally been pushing for expensive air defense missiles in return—said the agreements were worth “billions, not millions” to Ukraine.
“Specifically, billions for our exporters—everyone will earn, Ukraine will earn, we won’t lose out.”
Ukrainian drone manufacturers told AFP they had been inundated with requests from the Middle East since the outbreak of war in the region.
