Ukraine shot down Iranian drones in several Middle East states, Zelensky reveals

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Ukrainian military experts downed Iranian drones in several Middle East countries.

Kyiv dispatched dozens of anti-drone personnel to at least four countries in the Middle East after US and Israeli strikes on Iran sparked a wave of retaliatory drone attacks.

“We demonstrated to some countries how to work with interceptors. Did we destroy them? Yes, we did. Did we do it in just one country? No, in several,” Zelensky tells journalists in comments released under embargo.

“This was not about a training mission or exercises, but about support in building a modern air defense system that can actually work. Yes, they were shooting down Shaheds,” he says, referring to the Iranian drones.

Zelensky had said earlier this week that the Ukrainian drone units would remain in the region even after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire.

“In return for our support and expertise, we will receive various things. In some cases, it involves interceptors to protect our energy infrastructure; in others, there are financial arrangements,” he says, adding Ukraine could also receive oil supplies.