KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Qatar and Ukraine signed a defense agreement on Saturday that included cooperation on countering threats from missiles and drones, the Gulf state’s government said, as Iran presses an aerial campaign against its neighbors.
Earlier on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — during a previously unannounced flurry of visits to Gulf nations — said his country and the United Arab Emirates had agreed to cooperate on defense, after Iran targeted countries in the area in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes.
Ukraine also signed an air defense agreement with Saudi Arabia during Zelensky’s visit to the kingdom earlier this week.
“We are talking about a 10-year cooperation. We have already signed a relevant agreement with Saudi Arabia, we have just signed a similar agreement with Qatar, also for 10 years, we will sign one with the Emirates,” Zelensky told reporters, including from Agence France-Presse, at a briefing on Saturday.
Kyiv has sought to leverage its expertise in downing Russian drones to help Gulf nations and has deployed anti-drone experts to all three countries Zelensky has visited during his diplomatic tour.
“Over these 10 years we will be engaged in co-production, building plants in both countries' production lines in Ukraine as well as in these countries,” he added, without elaborating on details of what will be produced.
The agreement with Ukraine “includes collaboration in technological fields, development of joint investments and the exchange of expertise in countering missiles and unmanned aerial systems,” Qatar’s defense ministry said in a statement during Zelensky’s visit.
Ukrainian drone manufacturers have been inundated with requests from the Middle East since the outbreak of war in the region as Kyiv has become one of most advanced drone manufacturing hubs since Russia invaded in 2022.
“Neither the US, nor Europe, nor the Middle East are prepared for drone warfare,” a Ukrainian drone unit commander told AFP recently, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ukraine has “undoubtedly changed the geopolitical situation,” Zelensky told journalists Saturday, adding that “surely no one else can help in this way today, with expertise.”