Ukraine is ready to consider exchanging technology and weapons with partners, including transferring interceptor drones in exchange for missiles for Patriot air defense systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, commenting on cooperation with Middle Eastern countries in countering Iranian strike drones.
According to the head of state, a number of countries in the region have already turned to Ukraine for expert assistance after kamikaze drone attacks.
" We had signals from partners from the Middle East. There were strikes by Iranian "shaheeds" on civilians in these countries. They want an expertise from us. We are open. If their representatives come, we will provide an expertise. Especially since there is a request from the Europeans and the United States of America. We have requests that we need to share experience with partners from the Middle East ," Zelensky noted.
The President emphasized that during the full-scale war, Ukraine has accumulated significant experience in combating Iranian Shahed-type drones, which Russia regularly uses to attack Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure.
At the same time, Kyiv itself is facing a shortage of certain types of weapons, primarily missiles for Patriot systems, which are used to intercept air targets.
" As for weapons: we ourselves are at war. And I said absolutely frankly: we have a shortage of what they have. They have missiles for the Patriots, but they won't shoot down hundreds or thousands of "shaheeds" with missiles for the Patriots - it's expensive. It's no harm to people, of course, but they simply don't have that many missiles. That's why they need interceptor drones, which we have. And we have a shortage of PAC-2, PAC-3 missiles ," the head of state explained.
That is why, according to Zelensky, one of the possible formats of cooperation could be the mutual exchange of technologies and air defense means.
" If we talk about technology exchange, arms exchange, I think our country will be open to this ," the president added.
In recent years, Ukraine has been actively developing its own drone interception systems, including interceptor drones and other technologies to combat massive Shahed attacks. In an environment where the use of expensive air defense missiles against cheap drones is considered economically inefficient, such systems are becoming an important component of defense.
The issue of supplying missiles for Patriot remains one of the key ones for Ukrainian air defense, since it is these complexes that are capable of intercepting ballistic missiles and other complex air targets.
