Ukraine seeks more talks, but Kyiv’s partners focused on Iran, Zelenskiy says
KYIV, March 9 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that Ukraine was ready for new U.S.-backed peace talks with Russia “at any time” but that its partners’ attention was currently focused on the Iran conflict and that the United States wanted to postpone an upcoming meeting.
Zelenskiy also said that Ukraine had received 11 requests from countries neighboring Iran, as well as the United States and Europe, for assistance in shooting down drones fired by Tehran. He said Russia was manipulating the Iran conflict to improve its position.
Multiple rounds of talks with Russia aimed at ending the four-year conflict have failed to make progress on key issues, including Russia’s demand that Kiev abandon territory that Moscow’s troops have failed to capture.
“Currently the priority and all attention of the partners is focused on the situation around Iran, and therefore the meeting planned for this week is being postponed at the proposal of the American side,” Zelenskiy wrote in English on social media platform X.
“However, Ukraine is ready to meet at any time in a format that will be helpful and realistic in terms of ending the war.”
He wrote that the Russians “are trying to manipulate the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region in favor of their own aggression.”
“And … effectively turn the Iranian regime’s attacks on its neighbors and American bases into a second front in Russia’s war against Ukraine and, more broadly, the entire West. This should not be allowed.”
UKRAINIAN EXPERIENCE COUNTER-UAVS
Kiev is trying to draw on its deep experience in countering Russian drones based on Iranian designs as it pushes its allies for more weapons capable of shooting down ballistic missiles fired in Russian airstrikes against its cities.
In an earlier statement on X following the national security meeting, Zelenskiy said there was “obvious interest” in Ukraine’s experience developing interceptors, electronic warfare systems and training on countering unmanned aerial vehicles.
“Ukraine is ready to respond positively to the demands of those who help us protect the lives of Ukrainians and the independence of Ukraine.”
Some demands had been met with “concrete decisions and specific support”, he said, without giving further details.
Zelenskiy previously told the New York Times that Ukraine sent interceptor drones and a team of experts to protect US military bases in Jordan, following a request from Washington on Thursday.
Interceptor drones, which cost at most a few thousand dollars each, are seen as an effective way to counter attacks by drones such as Russian-made Witnesses, and Ukrainian defense firms are increasing production with the aim of exporting them.
The United States and Qatar were in talks to purchase interceptor unmanned aerial vehicles from Ukraine, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters last week.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka and Olena Harmash; Writing by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Aidan Lewis, Andrew Cawthorne and Deepa Babington)
