Ukraine will share its air-defense experience with partners amid the conflict in the Middle East, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Sunday, March 1.
“From the situation in the Middle East, you can see how difficult it is to provide 100% protection from missiles and ‘Shaheds,’ even in Gulf countries that have more advanced air-defense systems than what our partners have provided us so far, and have them in greater numbers. Still, not all ballistic missiles are being shot down. There are also ‘Shaheds’ that air defenses in the region did not stop.
“Everyone can see that our defense experience is, in many ways, irreplaceable. We are ready to share this experience, ready to help those nations that helped Ukraine this winter and throughout this war,” Zelensky said.
He stressed that “Europe must finally equip itself with real strength—real capability to protect its sky, its land, its sea from all types of attacks. To do this, it is necessary to build sufficient production volumes of air defenses—against drones and against ballistic missiles.”
The president added that Ukraine is closely tracking every change in the situation around Iran and coordinating with partners.
“It is important that this chance for change in Iran be used properly. The Iranian people have long been essentially one-on-one against violence, against the Iranian regime. This regime—which has killed tens of thousands of its citizens only in recent months, which has always supported and organized wars in the region, which gave Russia ‘Shaheds’ and the technology to produce them—this regime has itself defined how it should be regarded. It is important to have a clear position of supporting people and life; it is important that American resolve—and the world’s resolve—truly works,” Zelensky emphasized.
