Ukraine sends anti-drone expert teams to Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia and US base in Jordan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that three fully equipped teams of Ukrainian anti-drone experts would arrive this week in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. A Zelensky communications adviser confirmed a fourth expert team is being sent to a US base in Jordan. 'These are military personnel,' the adviser confirmed. Zelensky did not elaborate on the teams' exact makeup or mission. The deployment is the culmination of US and allied requests last week for Ukraine's expertise in countering Iran's Shahed attack drones — the same drones Russia has fired tens of thousands of at Ukraine since 2022. Ukraine has developed one of the world's most advanced counter-Shahed electronic warfare, net-gun, and kinetic intercept systems through hard operational experience. Axios separately reported that Washington had last year rejected a deal proposed by Kyiv to sell counter-drone systems that had successfully countered Iran's attack drones — but reversed course last week after being 'hit harder than expected' by Shahed strikes on US forces. The Ukrainian teams' deployment to Gulf states marks a new chapter in the Ukraine-US strategic relationship: Kyiv providing its expertise in Iranian drone warfare in exchange for continued US support.