Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine yesterday covering defense procurement arrangements.
The agreement was signed in Jeddah by Khalid Al Bayari, the Saudi assistant minister of defence for executive affairs, and Lt Gen Andriy Hinatov, chief of the general staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The deal focuses on co-operation in the acquisition of military equipment and services, and reflects efforts by the two countries to strengthen their collaboration in the sector, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in Jeddah, where they discussed regional escalation and the Ukraine crisis, according to the SPA.
Kyiv has sought to leverage its expertise in downing Russian drones to help Gulf nations, which are being attacked with the same Iranian-designed Shahed drones that Russia fires on Ukraine.
Zelenskiy has said that more than 200 Ukrainian anti-drone experts have been deployed to several countries in the Middle East since the war began on February 28.
Kyiv is touting its mix of cheap drone interceptors, electronic jamming tools and anti-aircraft guns as an effective air defence tool to Shahed Russian drones.
Ukraine has proposed swapping its interceptors for the more expensive air-defence missiles that Gulf countries are currently using to down Iranian drones.
Kyiv argues it needs more of them to fend off Russian missile attacks.
Riyadh has intercepted hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles from Iran since the US and Israel first struck Tehran on February 28.
At least six missiles were intercepted yesterday, the Saudi defence ministry said.
“This winter alone, Russia launched more than 19,000 drones into Ukraine, just to give some perspective on how much experience they do have in shooting down drones,” a journalist in Kyiv said.
“We spoke to the air force, for example, which said that an increasing number of objects being shut down are shut down with interceptor drones. So there is a growing experience from Ukraine, which is probably one of the global leaders when it comes to drones, and that’s because they’ve been able to react and respond in real time to troubleshoot this technology,” she said.
Zelenskiy said yesterday that Kyiv was working on reaching an agreement with countries in the Middle East on supplies of diesel, the type of fuel most in short supply in the country.
Zelenskiy said he was discussing with his ministers and Naftogaz, the national gas production and distribution company, “a potential diesel shortage”.
“I understand the importance of this task for Ukraine’s security and believe that this issue will be resolved,” he said.
“First and foremost, this is about diesel. Because about 90 per cent of the potential shortage is specifically diesel. This is therefore the issue we are focusing on to resolve,” he added.
Zelenskiy hopes during the visit to the Gulf to bolster support for Ukraine in its four-year-old war against Russia.
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