Roving Periscope: Amid their wars, Ukraine, S. Arabia sign defence cooperation pact
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Amid their ongoing wars against Russia and Iran, respectively, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia have signed an agreement on defence cooperation that lays the foundation for future contracts, technological cooperation, and investments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday.
During an unannounced visit to the Gulf, he hopes to bolster support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, which is now in its fifth year, as the US war with Iran raises uncertainty over whether Washington will restrict its military supplies to Kyiv, the media reported.
In September 2025, the Saudis had signed a bilateral defence pact with Pakistan also and are now pressing Islamabad to help Riyadh against Tehran.
Iran has been helping Russia in its war against Ukraine, which started in February 2022, and continues.
Since the US-Israeli duo’s air strikes on Iran since February 28, Tehran has also retaliated fiercely against American allies like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and others
Zelenskiy said the framework agreement was signed ahead of a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).
“We are ready to share our expertise and systems with Saudi Arabia and to work together to strengthen the protection of lives,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app.
“Saudi Arabia also has capabilities that are of interest to Ukraine, and this cooperation can be mutually beneficial.”
Zelenskiy’s trip comes after the Washington Post reported on Thursday that the United States was weighing redirecting the weapons supplies intended for Ukraine to the West Asia as the conflict with Iran strains existing American munitions stocks.
In March, Kyiv sent more than 220 Ukrainian experts to advise several West Asian countries on how to intercept drone attacks that have wreaked havoc on energy infrastructure across the volatile region.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine wanted money and technology in return for providing military assistance to countries in the region.
The Ukrainian leader met a group of Ukrainian military experts in Saudi Arabia, according to the video shared by his office on Friday.
In the video, a representative of the Ukrainian General Staff said that the Ukrainian group consisted of air defence experts and SBU security service officials.
The Ukrainian experts held a workshop for Saudi officials and also reported to the Saudi General Staff, and were preparing to share practical air defence experience with them, he said.
Drones have become the dominant weapon on the battlefield in the war with Russia. Kyiv has quickly innovated and increased its domestic production of various types of drones, helping to reduce the impact of Russia’s considerable advantage in terms of manpower.
Ukraine currently has the capacity to produce about 2,000 drone interceptors a day.
War to escalate
In a related development, Israel’s defence minister said on Friday that Israeli attacks on Iran “will escalate and expand.”
Israel Katz made the comment in a statement noting that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “warned the Iranian terrorist regime to stop firing missiles at the civilian population in Israel.”
“Despite the warnings, the firing continues – and therefore (Israeli military) attacks in Iran will escalate and expand to additional targets and areas that assist the regime in building and operating weapons against Israeli citizens,” Katz said.
“They will pay heavy, increasing prices for this war crime.”
