Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Saudi Arabia yesterday for an unannounced visit, as the war in Iran spurs interest among Gulf countries in Ukrainian arms technology. The two countries are set to sign an agreement on security cooperation, in particular, the protection of the skies.
Kyiv has sought to leverage its expertise in downing Russian drones to help Gulf nations, which are being attacked with the same Iranian-designed Shahed drones that Russia fires on Ukraine. Zelensky has said that more than 200 Ukrainian anti-drone experts have been deployed to several countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, since the US-Israel strikes on Iran spurred retaliatory drone and missile attacks targetting US assets and bases from Tehran. Kyiv is touting its mix of cheap drone interceptors, electronic jamming tools and anti-aircraft guns to down Russian drones as an effective air defence tool.
Ukraine has proposed swapping its interceptors for the vastly more expensive air-defence missiles that Gulf countries are currently using to down Iranian drones.
