Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a defense cooperation agreement with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of the country, during a visit to Jeddah on Friday, emphasizing that Iran has aided Russia’s invasion of his country for years.
As a result, Zelensky argued, Ukrainian military experts are familiar with the workings of Iranian technology, such as the country’s “Shahed” suicide drones, which Ukraine has identified as weapons used by Russia to bomb its cities. Zelensky has spent much of the past month encouraging the United States, Europe, and the Middle East to take advantage of their alliances with Ukraine to use its experts in the ongoing conflict against Iran, which began in late February when President Donald Trump announced that a military operation had killed “supreme leader” Ali Khamenei.
Iran’s primary response to the American operation, dubbed “Epic Fury,” has been to bomb neighboring Gulf Arab states. Saudi Arabia has experienced significant drone and missile bombardment at the hands of Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), targeting civilian sites such as oil facilities.
Saudi Arabia maintains friendly relations with both Ukraine and Russia, allowing it to take on a mediating role that has resulted in prisoner swaps and some economic deals to alleviate the Ukrainian economy. Saudi Arabia has also unsuccessfully hosted peace talks towards ending the Ukraine war, though not with Russia present.
Zelensky announced on Friday that he and the crown prince had signed an “important agreement” on defense in a statement shared on social media, along with images of the two leaders signing the deal.
“It lays the foundation for future contracts, technological cooperation, and investment. It also strengthens Ukraine’s international role as a security donor,” he added — a point he has emphasized throughout the past month, declaring Ukraine not just in need of defense aid but willing to grant it to friendly states.
“We are ready to share our expertise and systems with Saudi Arabia and to work together to strengthen the protection of lives,” his statement continued. “Now into the fifth year, Ukrainians are resisting the same kind of terrorist attacks — ballistic missiles and drones — that the Iranian regime is currently carrying out in the Middle East and the Gulf region.”
“Saudi Arabia also has capabilities that are of interest to Ukraine, and this cooperation can be mutually beneficial,” he added.
Zelensky on Thursday shared video of his warm greeting from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In other messages, he noted that Ukrainian military experts have already begun working with their Saudi counterparts on how to effectively address the threat of Shahed drones.
“Ukrainian experts were able to share extensive expertise and demonstrate how we in Ukraine protect our lives and infrastructure,” Zelensky shared on Twitter. “Ukraine’s expertise is unique, and recognized as such, and that is why everyone is so interested in our technologies and experience.”
The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) confirmed the deal on Friday, calling it a “memorandum of understanding on defense procurement.” The agency offered fewer details than Zelensky, though it noted the crown prince and the Ukrainian president discussed “the military escalation in the Middle East and the latest developments in the Ukrainian crisis.”
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde on Friday, Zelensky discussed his hope that Ukraine will be able to expand defense cooperation with Middle Eastern countries seeking to defend themselves from the Iranian terror state.
“We want Middle Eastern countries to give us the opportunity to strengthen ourselves as well. They have some air defense missiles that we lack,” he noted. “We would like to reach agreements on this. Funding is the scarcest resource today. Our defense industry is currently operating at half capacity, and we need more financing to produce drones for ourselves. That’s why we are ready to sell to our partners the systems we have in surplus.”
The Ukrainian president has also attempted to engage Washington for cooperation in the Iran war. Speaking to the New York Post in mid-March, Zelensky said that he was willing to use Ukrainian force to defend American lives given the extensive support America has given Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
“Whenever it is possible for us to help defending civilians or US nationals, without second thought we sent our teams,’’ he asserted.
“I would like the U.S. not to perceive Ukraine as a country that merely asks for help. That is not the case. Ukraine is defending interests and values,” he explained in a separate interview. “Of course, the U.S. is right when it says it is farther from this war than Europe. That is understandable. But we see U.S. allies in the Middle East, and we see what — and who — threatens them.”
Ukraine designated the IRGC a terrorist organization in early February, citing its coordination with other terrorist groups and its belligerent activity.
“The whole world sees what is happening in Iran, how many people have been killed, and how the Iranian regime has contributed to the spread of war and violence in the region and the world,” he said, referring to a wave of protests that began in late December which the Iranian regime repressed with deadly violence.
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