Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered a flurry of interviews to international media on Monday in which he emphasized his country’s willingness to help fight the Iranian terrorist regime and in particular defend Americans in the line of fire.
His remarks stand as a stark contrast to the apathy President Donald Trump has elicited from European and other world allies after requesting that other nations contribute to maintaining free travel for commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a pivotal trade route especially for oil shipments from the Middle East to Asia. Following America’s launch of “Operation Epic Fury,” a military mission to eliminate the threat of the Iranian terror state, Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to attack ships that attempt to travel through the strait, particularly outraging Iran’s ally China.
“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated,” Trump wrote in a message on his website, Truth Social, on March 14. Nations such as Australia, Japan, and Italy have responded to the call to help protect the strait from Iranian terrorism by refusing to help since that message was published.
Ukraine, Zelensky detailed in his interviews, has developed extensive experience fighting against Iran’s Shahed class of “suicide” drones, as Iran has offered its support to Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. As a result, he suggested, his country has much to offer in aiding the United States in eroding the Iranian global threat, which Ukraine lives with on a regular basis.
Speaking to the New York Post in an interview published on Monday, Zelensky said that his country “reacted immediately” when the United States began kinetic operations against Iran.
“Whenever it is possible for us to help defending civilians or US nationals, without second thought we sent our teams,’’ he explained, adding that Ukraine is hoping to be useful to the U.S. military with its experience against Shaheds. Zelensky also told the Post that Ukraine had already sent its experts on Iranian drones to the Middle East to help the U.S. efforts.
Zelensky separately published an excerpt from the interview with the Post on social media in which he emphasized Kyiv’s hope to give back to the United States after years of support against the Russian invasion.
“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. “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.”
“We need to act as quickly as possible, and the whole world needs to wake up. It is no longer the case that someone can simply buy modern weapons or extract oil and gas and remain safe,” he said, continuing:
Security comes from having the most advanced technologies and constantly developing them. If we don’t come up with a quick solution, if we don’t join forces with our allies leveraging the technology and expertise that have emerged from the war, if there is no combat-capable security alliance, then war will ensue.
Elsewhere in the remarks, Zelensky proclaimed Ukrainian military officials as “number one in the world” in understanding Iranian drone technology.
“We could build the world’s biggest drone factory,” he suggested. “The United States would provide production and financing. Ukraine would provide the technology and experience.”
“We can use it to defend American soldiers on bases,” Zelensky offered.
“Ukraine is definitely America’s ally. President Trump wants peace, and we want peace as well,” he added.
In interviews with the Israeli outlets i24 and the Jerusalem Post, Zelensky similarly repeated the critical role that Iran has played in aiding Russia’s invasion of his country and his hope that Ukraine could be of use in the struggle against the Iranian terror state.
“We want the world to stop Iran as quickly as possible,” he told i24NEWS, stating that Iran’s drones regularly targeted civilians in Ukraine, accusing them of using Ukrainians essentially for weapons testing. Zelensky also asserted that Ukrainian engineers taking apart Shaheds found Russian components inside, “so we know the Iranians didn’t produce it.”
“Ukraine was kind of an experiment place for these drones in the end,” Zelensky told the Jerusalem Post. “You can’t even compare the first class [of] Shahed, what was at the very beginning of the war, and today’s Shahed.”
“You can’t get to a new version without using thousands of them. And they were used mostly not on the battlefield,” he added. “They [Iran and Russia] want to kill as many civilians as possible. And they want to destroy energy, oil, gas, and any kind of power generation.”
Zelensky told the Jerusalem Post that Ukraine was “ready” to help the war effort against Iran, “now it’s up to the countries how to involve our expertise.”
President Trump has not expressed urgency in involving the Ukrainians in the Iran war effort.
“We don’t need help,” Trump told NBC News on March 14. “The last person we need help from is Zelensky.”
In a later interview, Trump was more diplomatic, stating that the issue with Zelensky’s offer was that the United States already has expertise on drones: “We know more about drones than anybody. We have the best drones in the world, actually.”
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