Exactly one year after the infamous Oval Office meeting in which President Donald Trump publicly humiliated Volodymyr Zelenskyy, telling the Ukrainian president that he has “no cards” to use in negotiations to end Russia’s deadly invasion of his country, Trump launched an attack against Iran. In the process, he inadvertently gave Ukraine a few new cards.
In a bitter irony, after four years of being on the receiving end of military support, Ukraine found itself fielding urgent requests for its anti-drone warfare expertise and equipment, as Gulf states scrambled to counter the barrage of drones that Iran launched against their territories in retaliation for the U.S. attack. Adding to the karmic payback of the moment, Kyiv is now in a position to indirectly avenge itself against Iran, whose Shahed drones Russia has long used to terrorize Ukraine’s civilian population. Indeed, the Shahed has become such a favorite of the Kremlin’s war machine in Ukraine that Russia has started producing them under license.
In a column last year, I detailed how Ukraine has become the world leader in drone warfare, noting that “no other country has a comparable depth of experience in building, utilizing and defending against drones.” It is that last part, defending against drones, that has become a pressing need in the Middle East.