US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US does not need Ukraine’s help with drone defense, days after Kyiv sent teams of military experts to US-allied Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to aid their fight against Iranian aerial attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that there had been “requests from the American side” to help defend the Gulf states against Iranian drones.
Ukraine has for years fended off strikes from Russia, which uses Iranian-designed Shahed drones to wreak havoc across the country.
Despite this, Trump told Fox News: “No, they are not helping. We do not need their help. We know more about drones than anyone else. We have the best drones, actually.”
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that US defense start-ups were joining forces with Ukrainian manufacturers to integrate Kyiv’s battle-proven, affordable and effective drone technology into US forces.
The US Department of Defense has handed contracts to two US-Ukrainian partnerships to trial long-range attack drones with a view to integrating them into its military service.
Gulf states have expended huge numbers of expensive US-made air defense missiles to counter Iran’s attack drones.
The UAE spent $1bn a day shooting down drones and missiles in the first 48 hours of the conflict in the Gulf. The cost of the munitions sent by Iran was several times less.
Ukraine, which has been downing Russian drones every night for some years using a range of weapons including jamming equipment and small, extremely cheap interceptor drones, has offered its expertise to allies.
As well as Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian drone experts are also believed to be guarding US military bases in Jordan.
In an interview released on Wednesday, Zelensky said that Ukraine now has “cards” after receiving a US request for Kyiv to help protect American military bases in the Middle East.
“I think that a year ago we had them. I didn’t show them. But now everybody understands that we have,” he said.
In the same interview on Friday, Trump admitted that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be helping Iran “a little bit.”
Reports have suggested that Russia is providing intelligence to Iran to target US military assets and personnel as well as training the country in “advanced drone tactics.”
However, Trump has repeatedly justified the support, suggesting that Moscow likely views it as payback for US support for Ukraine.
“I think he might be helping him [Iran] a little bit, yeah, I guess. And he probably thinks we’re helping Ukraine, right?” he said on Friday.
Meanwhile, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, said that the US could “take them [Russia] at their word” that they had not been sharing intel.
On March 10, it was reported that the US had last year declined a Ukrainian proposal to use Kyiv’s drone interception technologies against Iranian-made Shahed drones.
Two US officials quoted by Axios said rejecting the proposal is now considered one of the administration’s biggest tactical mistakes since bombing against Iran began on Feb. 28.