KYIV \u2014 President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has leveraged Ukraine\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since Russia\u2019s invasion in 2022, Zelenskiy has sought to strengthen Kyiv\u2019s alliances, both with Western allies and with countries of the \u201cglobal south,\u201d to restrict Russia\u2019s diplomatic sway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. Kyiv has also developed long-range attack drone capabilities to hit Russian energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This month alone, Ukraine signed defense and drone deals in Germany, Norway and the Netherlands, following long-term security partnerships with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in late March. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelenskiy has in recent weeks also agreed security cooperation with Turkey and Syria, and signed agreements at the weekend with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on defense and energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cZelenskiy is really trying hard to show that Ukraine is an asset and not a liability and that it has an answer to the changing nature of war,\u201d said Orysia Lutsevych, head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House, a London-based think tank. \u201cUkraine now needs to organize itself to actually deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s drone manufacturers say they have significant spare capacity, but the government has approved only a handful of defense export licenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine has begun drone manufacturing overseas, including in Germany and Britain, but that production is earmarked for its own military needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn Ukraine, the choke point is the export control: basically it\u2019s an export ban,\u201d Lutsevych said, adding that Ukraine needed to streamline the rules. \u201cIt needs to find a balance between its war needs and exports.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelenskiy, in his evening address on Tuesday, said Ukraine\u2019s defense industry had 50% spare capacity in some areas and would soon begin exporting weapons. Authorities would simplify the bureaucratic procedures for export, he said, while taking steps to ensure Ukrainian technology and weapons do not end up in Russian hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another challenge for Ukraine is that its success has mostly been in developing effective systems \u2014 such as coordinated layers of interceptor drones, machine guns and jamming devices for drone defense – rather than cutting-edge technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a shop window for these techniques, Ukraine has deployed about 200 experts to the Gulf to help defend against Iran\u2019s Shahed long-range drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kurt Volker, a former U.S. NATO ambassador and Ukraine envoy during President Donald Trump\u2019s first administration, said Kyiv was rightly cautious about sharing its wartime systems too widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMuch of what the Ukrainians have done is develop process and mentality,\u201d Volker said, adding Ukraine was concerned about Russia learning how its systems operate. \u201cWhat any business would do is protect your IP for as long as possible. That\u2019s what makes it valuable. So of course they\u2019re doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s low-cost air defenses rely on the training and skill of the operators of its interceptor drones, said Fabian Hoffmann, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Defence University College. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That has been highly effective against propeller drones, such as Russia\u2019s Geran-2, but the gradual introduction of jet-powered models that can fly at 400 km (250 miles) an hour are making it harder for human operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUkraine has been moving towards autonomously guided interceptor drones but, so far, the operators have done a lot of the heavy lifting,\u201d Hoffmann said, adding that European companies such as Tytan in Germany and Frankenburg in Estonia were developing autonomous systems that might erode Ukraine\u2019s advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Military exports would bring economic benefits to Ukraine, experts say. About 400,000 people already work in Ukraine\u2019s defense industry, according to UCDI, a manufacturers\u2019 association. A better-capitalized defense sector could also reduce reliance on Western financial and military support, and fuel economic growth after an eventual ceasefire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zelenskiy hopes drone diplomacy can help secure energy supply deals with Middle Eastern states and markets for Ukraine\u2019s agricultural produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also wants to strengthen Ukraine\u2019s missile defenses. The U.S.-Israel war with Iran has raised concerns in Ukraine that supplies of Patriot systems – used to bring down Russian ballistic missiles \u2013 could dry up as Washington prioritizes its own needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s $4-billion defense pact with Germany this month included supplies of Patriots and pledges of cooperation to create a European ballistic missile defense. Zelenskiy has said Ukraine needs its own anti-ballistic missile defenses within a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hoffmann said the challenges of building an interceptor capable of downing modern maneuvering ballistic missiles was enormous: the Patriot PAC-3, with a success rate of perhaps 60%, was the fruit of decades of work, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Underlying Ukraine\u2019s push, analysts say, is concern over Washington\u2019s reliability as a partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe (Zelenskiy) understands that America stopped being an ally,\u201d Lutsevych said. \u201cThe Ukrainians also understand that they need to walk a fine line by keeping America on side as long as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Iran war has confirmed how central drones are to modern warfare and handed Zelenskiy a diplomatic trump card, analysts say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":120707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":21,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[29,21],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3742],"class_list":["post-38370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-unmanned"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TON3VY3YHZCQZO4TOMGHUBD7W4","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2026\/04\/29\/drone-diplomacy-wins-ukraine-valuable-allies-but-now-it-must-deliver\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n