Ukraine signed 10-year defense cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia and Qatar last week and agreed in principle to a similar deal with the UAE, turning its four years of frontline drone warfare into a new export — and a new source of capital for its defense industry.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the deals upon returning to Kyiv on March 30, calling them “historic agreements.” Ukraine is simultaneously negotiating with Jordan and Kuwait, and Bahrain and Oman have submitted additional requests. National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov remained in the region to continue talks.
Gulf states now face the same threat profile Ukraine has lived with since 2022 — massed attacks by Iranian-made Shahed drones — and have turned to Kyiv for help. Ukraine has already deployed more than 200 anti-drone experts to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, with 30 more heading to Jordan and Kuwait.
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Breaking Defense reports the offer covers the full counter-drone stack: signals intelligence, threat data sharing, interceptor drone deployment, short-range air defense batteries, and training on target concealment. The 10-year framework also includes co-production plans — building defense manufacturing capacity in both countries.
“Ukraine has been countering Iranian drones for years, and all features of this defense are of interest to the Gulf,” Samuel Bendett, adviser at the Center for a New American Security, told Breaking Defense.
Zelenskyy said the agreements cover anti-ballistic missile capabilities — in global short supply — plus energy supplies including diesel, critical to Ukraine’s defense sector and agriculture. A Saudi arms company separately signed a deal to buy Ukrainian interceptor missiles, and the Kyiv Independent reported a larger standalone arms deal is also in negotiation.
Before the Iran war, Riyadh limited its Ukraine support to humanitarian aid, carefully hedging between Washington and Moscow. With Iran now striking Gulf infrastructure and Russia backing Tehran, that calculus has shifted — Russian support for Iran was reportedly among the topics Zelenskyy raised with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
US air defense systems are stretched thin by the Iran campaign, creating a gap Ukraine moved quickly to fill. Zelenskyy framed the Gulf engagement in broader terms: “This matters because energy security — and the cost of living, particularly in Europe — depends on their oil, gas and other resources, and stable global markets.”
Ukraine has so far disclosed no volumes, timelines, or implementation details, and is still assembling the legislative framework needed to authorize arms exports.
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