{"id":5467,"date":"2026-03-15T23:35:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T23:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/15\/ukraine-eyes-money-and-tech-in-return-for-middle-east-drone-support\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T23:35:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T23:35:43","slug":"ukraine-eyes-money-and-tech-in-return-for-middle-east-drone-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/15\/ukraine-eyes-money-and-tech-in-return-for-middle-east-drone-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine eyes money and tech in return for Middle East drone support"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Ukraine\u2019s leader previously said advisers were sent to Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia to help thwart Iranian drone attacks.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Ukraine wants money and technology as payback after sending specialists to the Middle East to help down Iranian drones during the ongoing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/15\/iran-war-what-is-happening-on-day-16-of-us-israel-attacks\">Israel-United States war with Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters on Sunday that three teams were sent to the region to undertake expert assessments and demonstrate how drone defences work as countries in the Middle East continue to be targeted by Iran over hosting US military bases.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/13\/ukraine-finds-new-role-as-protector-of-the-us-and-its-allies-in-gulf-war\">Ukraine finds new role as protector of US, Gulf allies amid Iran war<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/3\/15\/iran-claims-us-and-israel-using-copycat-lucas-drones-to-frame-it\">Iran claims US and Israel using copycat \u2018Lucas\u2019 drones to frame it<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/15\/how-trumps-unchecked-power-has-changed-the-world\">How Trump\u2019s unchecked power has changed the world<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/15\/trump-calls-for-naval-coalition-to-open-strait-of-hormuz-can-it-work\">Trump calls for naval coalition to open Strait of Hormuz: Can it work?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cThis is not about being involved in operations. We are not at war with Iran,\u201d Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week, Ukraine\u2019s leader announced military teams were sent to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and a US military base in Jordan.<\/p>\n<p>But he explained that more long-term drone deals could be negotiated with Gulf countries, and what Kyiv gets in return for its assistance still needs to be established.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor us today, both the technology and the funding are important,\u201d Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the four-year Russia-Ukraine war, Moscow has widely used <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/10\/17\/what-are-kamikaze-drones-and-how-did-they-get-to-ukraine\">Iranian Shahed-136 \u201csuicide\u201d drones,<\/a> giving Kyiv expertise in knowing how to down the unmanned aerial vehicles through cheap drone interceptors, electronic jamming tools, and anti-aircraft weaponry.<\/p>\n<p>However, US President Donald Trump has said he does not need Ukraine\u2019s help in taking down Iranian drones attacking American targets.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/INTERACTIVE-SHAHED136-drone.png?w=770&#038;resize=770%2C770&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"INTERACTIVE - SHAHED 136 drone\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"rules-must-be-tightened\">\u2018Rules must be tightened\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Zelenskyy said he doesn\u2019t know why Washington hasn\u2019t signed a drone agreement with Kyiv, which it has pushed for months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to sign a deal worth about $35bn\u201350bn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Still, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues with no end in sight, Zelenskyy raised concerns that the ongoing war in the Middle East will impact Kyiv\u2019s supplies of air defence missiles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would very much not like the United States to step away from the issue of Ukraine because of the Middle East,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>But as interest has grown for Ukrainian drone interceptors in light of the war, Zelenskyy said Kyiv\u2019s rules to buy the drones must be tightened, with foreign countries and firms being unable to bypass the government and talk directly to manufacturers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, representatives of certain governments or companies want to bypass the Ukrainian state to purchase specific equipment,\u201d Zelensky told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven in some free countries, we do not initially receive contracts from the private sector. A contract comes to me through the political channel. Only then does the private sector start negotiating with us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ukraine\u2019s leader previously said advisers were sent to Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia to help thwart Iranian drone attacks. Ukraine wants money and technology as payback after sending specialists to the Middle East to help down Iranian drones during the ongoing Israel-United States war with Iran. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters on Sunday that &#8230; <a title=\"Ukraine eyes money and tech in return for Middle East drone support\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/15\/ukraine-eyes-money-and-tech-in-return-for-middle-east-drone-support\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Ukraine eyes money and tech in return for Middle East drone support\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}