Ukraine sees massive surge in demand for air defense amid Iran war
Nation12 March, 08:15 AM
In his interview, he highlighted a stunning shift in global dynamics and how the tables have dramatically turned for Kyiv.
"As I also told the IMF delegation: life has turned upside down," Fedirko said.
"For the last few years, we walked all over Europe, all over the world, and asked, begged to close our skies. Now this whole world has come to us, and literally from the first days of the war in Iran, since Feb. 28, many international delegations, our partners, have come to Ukraine to ask for the opposite — to help them solve the Iranian problem, to at least close the skies over the Arabian Peninsula,."
He emphasized that negotiations about this with Ukraine "were literally going on every day and every hour," as "a great many delegations" arrived.
"I can't even imagine the pressure that was put, in particular, on the president, on the decision-makers," he stressed.
"We, as an industry, were ready. We declare this and have stated before that we are now producing three times more than our country can buy. This applies, in particular, to interceptor means, that is, interceptors, both for reconnaissance aviation and for anti-Shahed [countermeasures]."
On March 5, Zelenskyy reported that Ukraine had received a request from the U.S. regarding assistance in defense against Shaheds in the Middle East following the outbreak of the war in Iran. He noted that he instructed to provide the necessary means, as well as ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists.
On March 10, the head of state announced that he sent three teams of experts and interceptor drones to combat Iranian UAVs to Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. They were scheduled to arrive in the Middle East this week.
On March 11, Zelenskyy stated that after the U.S. requested help to protect American military bases in the Middle East from Iranian drones, Ukraine holds the "trump cards."
U.S. President Donald Trump had repeatedly said that Volodymyr Zelenskyy had no "trump cards" in negotiations with Russia and should conclude a peace agreement with dictator Vladimir Putin.