KYIV
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has leveraged Ukraine’s expertise in drone warfare into a series of successful diplomatic deals during visits to the Middle East and Europe, showcasing how Kyiv is using military prowess to boost its diplomatic clout. Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, Zelenskiy has sought to strengthen Kyiv’s alliances, both with Western allies and with countries of the “global south”, to restrict Russia’s diplomatic sway. The Iran war has confirmed how central drones are to modern warfare and handed Zelenskiy a diplomatic trump card at a time when U.S. support for Kyiv appears unreliable, analysts say. During the war, Ukraine has invented cheap and highly effective ways to counter drone attacks instead of relying only on state-of-the-art defensive missile systems such as the costly U.S. Patriot, used by the U.S. in the Gulf.
