Zelenskyy: Ukraine offers long-term security partnerships
Volodymyr Zelenskyy in front of Ukrainian-made military equipment (Photo: Youtube / Zelenskyy_President)
As opposed to selling off its arsenals like it did in the
1990s, Ukraine now offers long-term, mutually beneficial defense industrial
partnerships to interested
countries, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on April 13.
Zelenskyy made the remarks during a video address on the Ukrainian Armorer’s Day, surrounded with some of the military equipment the country developed during the Russo–Ukrainian war.
“Our missiles, our unmanned systems, our interceptor; strike; and maritime drones, reconnaissance systems, artillery, ammunition, armored vehicles, robotic systems and much more,” the president outlined the type of equipment Kyiv is willing to produce jointly with international partners.
“We are not staging a weapons market and emptying our warehouses. We are offering security partnerships that are long-term and beneficial for Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy said Ukrainian interceptor drones are already operating across the Middle East, including in Persian Gulf countries. He said Ukraine is building an integrated air-defense architecture that combines radar coverage, electronic warfare systems, communications linking air-defense components, and drone interceptors.
“Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar have defenses against ballistic and other missiles,” he said.
“But with our military expertise, they [now] have solutions to defend against [Iranian] Shahed drones, to detect that threat and respond at scale. Ukraine can do all of that.”
Zelenskyy said Kyiv is in talks on similar agreements with Kuwait, Oman, Turkey and Syria, and that countries in Asia and Africa have expressed interest in Ukraine’s experience.
He also said Ukraine has the unique experience in unmanned naval combat.
“No one else has carried out missions like Ukrainians in the Black Sea,” the president said.
“When people talk about security in the Strait of Hormuz,
those are often theoretical discussions. Those having them have not conducted
similar operations themselves. We fought an enemy fleet, air strikes, and naval
mines. We went through all of that. If partners offer equal cooperation,
Ukraine can help,” he said.
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