Zelenskyy’s offer makes Ukraine ‘indispensable’ to Gulf states, researcher says

Gulf states now facing attacks from Iranian missiles and Shahed drones have shifted their view of Kyiv because President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered to help counter the attacks and Kyiv sent about 200 military advisers to the Middle East, Zolkina said.

“At the start of the full-scale war [in 2022], many Middle Eastern countries sympathized with Ukraine as a victim of aggression,” she said.

Relations cooled in 2023 after Zelenskyy condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. But in February 2026 Ukraine proved its practical value to Gulf states, she said, offering a capability that the United States, the EU, or the UK currently cannot provide.

“We reached a level of pragmatic interest in 2026, when Ukraine showed its added value, and that fit well with Gulf countries’ desire to diversify their security partners,” Zolkina said.

“We found a niche between Gulf states on one side and the United States on the other.”

She called Ukraine “a laboratory of solutions” for a new security and defense system for Gulf countries and said Kyiv is now seen as a supplier of technology and operational experience. Zolkina added that decade-long defense agreements Ukraine has signed with several Persian Gulf countries would have been unlikely not long ago.