Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is ready to provide its domestic interceptor drones to Middle Eastern countries in exchange for the critically needed American PAC-3 air defense missiles. Zelenskyy said this during a briefing, as reported by UNN.
Details
"This morning I spoke with the leader of the UAE. In addition, our diplomats are working at all levels with representatives of the Middle East. I think, in these days, I will discuss with each of the leaders of these countries who are making contact or want cooperation. Of course, the number one issue for everyone is how to protect the sky. We ourselves live with this issue. It's just that colleagues from the Middle East have never experienced such massive attacks," Zelenskyy said.
He noted that the leaders of Middle Eastern countries are interested in Ukraine's experience in shooting down "Shaheds."
"We are an adequate country that is at war, we cannot simply transfer weapons that we are short of. Everyone understands this. They can take expertise on how to protect civilians. This is absolutely possible. If we are talking about something global - it's training, our weapons, our teams... yesterday I said: 'I understand what a massive attack is. If the leaders of the Middle East manage to agree with Putin, and they have good economic relations... agree on a ceasefire, then our guys who are defending our sky today can go and protect, or teach how to protect against Iranian attacks,'" Zelenskyy added.
According to him, Ukraine is building relations with Middle Eastern countries, and therefore could participate in shooting down drones.
"For example, today they have Patriot air defense systems, PAC-3 missiles... they have all of this. Is this important? Very important. Does it protect against hundreds of 'Shaheds'? No. We know that this is not a working model. But do we have a shortage of PAC-3s? Yes. If we are talking about weapons during a war, which we are short of, then PAC-3s, if they give them to us, we will give them interceptors. This is an equivalent exchange," the President added.
Recall
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that he discussed the situation in the Middle East and Iran's attacks on civilian targets with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as "how we can help in this situation and support the protection of life," and agreed to work on this with their teams.