Zelensky confirms Ukrainian anti-drone teams now working in Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian anti-drone expert teams have begun working in three Gulf states targeted by Iranian drone attacks. 'Three of our teams have gone — strong teams of experts, military personnel, engineers, different people. Today the military are already communicating and already working,' Zelensky told reporters including AFP journalists. His spokesman separately confirmed the three countries are Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. The Ukrainian deployment represents a significant expansion of the conflict's coalition dynamics: Ukraine — itself under Russian drone bombardment — is providing drone interception expertise to Gulf states facing the same Iranian drone campaign. Ukrainian military engineers have developed significant anti-drone capabilities over three years of defending against Russian Shahed drone attacks, which are themselves Iranian-designed. The irony is direct: Iran's Shahed drones are being used to attack Ukraine (via Russia) and now Gulf states simultaneously, and Ukraine is sharing its counter-Shahed expertise with the Gulf states to defeat the same weapons. This creates an unusual alignment between Ukraine and the US-Gulf coalition against Iran.