Ukraine turns from aid seeker into its exporter with establishment of cooperation with Gulf countries – experts
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy reoriented the diplomatic vector of Ukraine toward the Middle East, to which he offers Ukrainian security technologies, thanks to which Ukraine was able to become an exporter of security assistance under war conditions, notes political expert Serhiy Yahodzinsky.
"Today, the President of Ukraine is indeed orienting Ukraine and the diplomatic vector toward the East. We see that the president constantly talks about drones, and… we offer this technology to our eastern partners," Yahodzinsky said during a discussion at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
Military expert and political scientist Ihor Romanenko added that "with this establishment of cooperation with the Persian Gulf countries, we are simply turning from an aid seeker into an aid exporter."
"It is pleasant to talk with our Armed Forces leaders when they say that one commander of the Armed Forces or another (from other countries – IF-U) is coming to visit us. That is, they come for our combat, priceless combat experience; not clerks come, but people who are responsible for the defense of their country. Because, unlike other countries, we do not offer separate launchers or anti-aircraft systems. We offer a systematic approach," he said.
Romanenko added that military equipment changes very quickly during war. "Now we are on the wave. And we must ride this wave and show our effectiveness on this wave," he noted.
Rostyslav Balaban, leading researcher at the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnonational Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, emphasized the importance of Ukraine maintaining its own subjectivity in such conditions.
"Today, both European countries and countries of the East turn to Ukraine either for primary assistance or for indirect assistance. What does indirect mean? You see that the president's visits, along with the work of other people, instances, and institutions, show that joint production of drones is beginning in many parts of the world. Or the production of drones, but they take our consultants, our experience, some of our technologies," he said.
According to the expert, Middle Eastern countries are increasing their security, in particular, because "it is not profitable for Americans to shoot down a drone for, conditionally, $300 with a million-dollar missile." "That is, this disproportion is for exhaustion. And therefore, the Ukrainian experience turned out to be extremely relevant. We, as Ukrainians, felt this ourselves through the press, through our military… Everything is changing, and we must keep up the standard in this context and work on those plans and programs implemented by the National Security and Defense Council," Balaban added.
