President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday presented a deal to U.S. allies in the Middle East, requesting an exchange involving some of their air defense missiles.
Zelenskyy said he is prepared to strike a deal with Arab countries by supplying Kyiv’s drones in return, helping them better defend themselves against Iranian drone attacks.
Recent strikes by Israel and the United States on Iran have triggered retaliatory attacks by Iran, including the deployment of drones, across the wider conflict zone.
Russia has been using Iranian-designed Shahed drones throughout its four-year invasion of Ukraine. In response, Kyiv has developed several types of low-cost drone interceptors — aerial systems specifically designed to strike and destroy incoming drones in mid-air.
At the same time, Ukraine is facing a shortage of PAC-3 air defense missiles, expensive systems used to intercept incoming Russian missiles targeting Ukrainian cities and damaging critical infrastructure.
The number one issue is how to protect their skies. We ourselves live with this question,” Zelenskyy said.
With this statement, Zelenskyy is essentially proposing a barter trade idea — offering one capability in exchange for another.
