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KYIV — The United States has asked Ukraine to share its battlefield expertise in countering Iranian-made drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday.
Zelenksy said he gave instructions to “provide the necessary means and ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists” who can help protect the US in the war against Iran.
“Ukraine helps partners who help ensure our security and protect the lives of our people,” he said.
The expertise could help the US and partner nations save not just lives but millions of dollars, as Ukraine has developed cheaper alternatives to shooting down the drones instead of relying on $4 million Patriot interceptor missiles, Kyiv officials said.
Asked about the development by The Post on Thursday, President Trump praised cooperation among allied countries responding to the threat.
“We’re having a lot of success. We have a lot of great champions,” Trump said of partner nations helping counter attacks linked to Iran. “We have a lot of winners.”
Countries in the Middle East have been facing strikes from Iranian “Shahed” drones — the same type widely used by Russia against Ukrainian cities since the start of the full-scale invasion.
“We received signals from partners in the Middle East. There have been strikes by Iranian ‘shaheds’ on civilians in those countries,” Zelensky also said in a post to X. “They are seeking our expertise.”
It was an Iranian drone strike that killed six US soldiers in Kuwait on March 1, as the US military was unable to intercept it in time.
Ukraine has spent years building up defenses against the long-range one-way attack drones, developing interceptor drones and other tactics to bring them down more cheaply than traditional air-defense missiles.
In the post, which used remarks he made to Rai Italia, Zelensky said Kyiv would be open to sharing that experience.
“If their representatives come, we will provide the expertise,” he said, adding that requests have also come from European partners and the United States to share lessons learned from Ukraine’s defense against drone barrages.
Asked about Zelensky’s offer, Trump also told Reuters on Thursday he would “take any assistance from any country.”
Maj. Gen. Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy chief of Ukraine’s defense intelligence, told The Post in Kyiv on Monday that Kyiv’s approach is multi-pronged — a necessity for the complex threats of modern warfare.
“We have the expertise to know when and from which direction the Shaheds are launched, and the routes they fly,” he said. “We use different types of air defense systems in cooperation — mobile groups, missiles, anti-air defense systems and radio electronic warfare.”
Skibitskyi predicted that Kyiv would most likely provide Ukrainian troops to train partner militaries on how to address the threat.
“I think first of all, we’re going to be instructors — trainers. Then they will share their expertise in each of those components of the system,” he said. “The firing groups, the anti-air missiles and the electronic warfare, because a big part of the intercepted drones are exactly smashed with the anti-radio warfare.”
“A big part of the intercepted drones are actually brought down using electronic warfare.”
That strategy could save the US and its partners millions of dollars, as it is a far cheaper option to down drones than using air-defense missiles like Patriot interceptors — which cost around $4 million per shot.
Ukraine remains heavily reliant on Western air-defense systems, particularly the Patriot, but Zelensky said those missiles are too expensive to use against large waves of low-cost drones.
“They have missiles for the Patriots, but hundreds or thousands of ‘shaheds’ cannot be intercepted with Patriot missiles — it is too costly,” he said.
Instead, Ukraine has leaned increasingly on interceptor drones and other cheaper tools to shoot down incoming threats.
At the same time, Zelensky acknowledged Ukraine faces its own shortages of key air-defense munitions, including PAC-2 and PAC-3 interceptor missiles used by Patriot batteries.
“Regarding weapons: we ourselves are at war,” he said. “We have a shortage of PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles.”
Because of those shortages, Zelensky said Ukraine would be open to broader technology or weapons exchanges with allies.
He also suggested the drone cooperation could become a two-way exchange of military technology.
“When it comes to technology or weapons exchange, I believe our country will be open to it,” he said.
English (US)