Ukrainian experts are set to visit Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters, where they will share expertise to counter Iranian drone threats.
“The first three countries to which we sent them, according to our agreements, are Qatar, the Emirates, and Saudi Arabia,” Zelensky said in an audio message.
“When it comes to shooting down massive Shahed attacks, only Ukrainian experience can really help with this today,” he added, referring to the Iranian-designed drones that Russia uses.
Zelensky has called for US allies in the Gulf to give over much-needed air defence missiles in exchange for Ukrainian drone interceptors.
Earlier, as EurAsian Times reported, Zelenskyy wrote on X: “We received a request from the United States for specific support in protection against ‘Shaheds’ in the Middle East region.”
“I gave instructions to provide the necessary means and ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists who can guarantee the required security. Ukraine helps partners who help ensure our security and protect the lives of our people.”
Dara Massicot, a defense and security analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, underlined the US failure to prepare for the Iranian drone threat. “If you are planning a war against the original purveyor of Shahed drones and you are surprised that Shaheds are numerous and difficult to intercept, you have not been paying attention,” Massicot said.
“There is a multiyear disconnect between the Ukrainian combat experience and institutionalizing its lessons in the US military.”
As a result, the US and its allies are now reaching out to Ukraine amid a crisis, Massicot added.
To be fair, the Gulf states have intercepted the vast majority of these drones.
According to a study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), by the morning of 6 March 2026, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states had confirmed over 2,150 interceptions of Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), missiles, and even fighter jets.
“About a quarter of those are Iranian ballistic missiles, and almost all the rest were UAVs. Less than 20 cruise missiles were detected and intercepted.”
However, Iran only needs a few strikes for its asymmetric warfare strategy to succeed.
An Iranian drone strike in Kuwait led to the death of six US military personnel.
Iranian drones have also hit the US embassy in Saudi Arabia, communications equipment for the US Navy’s fifth fleet in Bahrain, a luxury hotel in Dubai’s most expensive real estate, Palm Jumeirah, a British military base in Cyprus, one of Saudi Arabia’s largest refineries, and a major natural gas terminal in Qatar.
There are also unconfirmed strikes on the THAAD air defense system in the UAE.
Though the US has amassed its most advanced air defense systems in the region, these Iranian drones operate at a lower altitude than most radars and AD systems are designed to detect.
Their low speed and low-altitude flight make them difficult to detect by radar.
The US and its Gulf allies need a new strategy to deal with this threat.
This is where the Ukrainian experience comes in handy.
Dealing with Shahed drones and their clones for years, Kyiv has devised new, cheaper ways to take down these cheap drones, rather than burning through the stockpiles of missile interceptors that cost millions of dollars.
Ukraine has, in fact, become a laboratory for counter-drone innovation.
Across the thousands of miles-long frontline, Ukraine has deployed networks of sensors and microphones that recognize the acoustic signature of the Shahed’s lawn-mower-like sound and alert interceptor teams in real time.
Ukraine has also leveraged the Shahed drone’s low-speed, low-altitude flight and comparatively large wingspan to take them down with cheap options, like truck-mounted machine guns.
Another hugely successful Ukrainian strategy has been its cheap, mass-produced interceptor drones, such as the Sting system, produced by the Ukrainian group Wild Hornets.
These interceptor drones are piloted with first-person-view goggles by operators who crash them into Shahed drones before they reach their targets.
Due to this expertise, Ukraine has received inquiries from the US, the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia in the last week.
In return for its help, Kyiv might get investment in its burgeoning defense ecosystem from the rich Gulf monarchies.
The US failure to prepare for the Iranian drone threat is even more perplexing, given that the Pentagon clearly understood the striking capabilities of the Shahed drones.
While China is known for reverse-engineering US defense products, Washington itself reverse-engineered the Shahed drones.
The Pentagon has even lauded its performance in the Iran War.
“LUCAS is indispensable… This was an original Iranian drone design. We captured it, pulled the guts out, sent it back to America, put a little ‘Made in America’ on it, brought it back here, and we’re shooting it at the Iranians,” the US CENTCOM (Central Command) commander, Admiral Brad Cooper, recently said at a press conference.
The admission comes days after CENTCOM acknowledged the use of the drones, saying, “CENTCOM’s Task Force Scorpion Strike – for the first time in history – is using one-way attack drones in combat during Operation Epic Fury. These low-cost drones, modelled after Iran’s Shahed drones, are now delivering American-made retribution.”
It is surprising that while the Pentagon developed its own clone of Shahed drones, it failed to prepare in advance for the danger posed by these drones, and to anticipate that any war with Iran would involve the use of these drones in the thousands.
- Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in news media. He has worked with Press Trust of India, Times Now, Zee News, Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Media and Modern History from the University of Sheffield, UK.
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