Middle Eastern countries can help Ukraine with air defense, Zelenskyy says

Zelenskyy said Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov, visited key Gulf capitals this week and has reported back on the results.

“There is an understanding of what new security agreements can be made with countries in this region,” the president said in his evening address.

“There are tangible things they can do to support us, to support our defense — primarily air defense — and there are things we can support them with, and already do.”

He said he receives daily reports on the work of Ukrainian expert teams that are helping Middle Eastern countries defend against Iran’s Shahed drones.

“Strikes by remnants of the Iranian regime on Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries are effectively strikes on global stability and on European energy security,” Zelenskyy added.

“Ukraine is ready to join joint security initiatives to stabilize the situation as quickly as possible. Ukraine has long proposed creating realistic and effective tools to hold to account those who block maritime trade routes, who destroy … normal shipping and who destroy energy infrastructure.”