Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia and Iran “brothers in hatred” on Tuesday as he sought support from U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a time when the Iran war has robbed momentum from U.S.-brokered talks to finish Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s allies to not ignore his country, and suggested the U.S. and others should make use of Ukraine’s anti-drone technology during a Middle East war that has also revived Russia’s ailing economy through increased oil revenue and will soon limit Kyiv’s access to vital Western air defense systems, that are needed within the Middle East.
“The regimes in Russia and Iran are brothers in hatred and that’s the reason they’re brothers in weapons,” Zelenskyy told lawmakers in Britain’s Parliament. “And we would like regimes built on hatred to never, never win in anything.”
Holding talks with Zelenskyy at 10 Downing Street, Starmer said “(Russian President Vladimir) Putin can’t be the one who advantages from the conflict in Iran, whether that’s oil prices or the dropping of sanctions.”
The meeting got here days after the U.S. temporarily waived some Russian oil sanctions in a bid to ease pressure on global supplies triggered by the war within the Middle East, which was sparked by the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran starting Feb. 28.
Zelenskyy and another European leaders criticized Washington’s move to ease sanctions, saying it would supply a windfall for Moscow to maintain up its attacks on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy also met with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace before addressing dozens of members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords in Parliament. He told them that other countries could learn from Ukraine’s agile adoption of technology, including drones and AI, for defense.
“The actual fact we got through this winter, which Russia tried to make deadly for all our families, shows that our solutions work,” Zelenskyy said.
European leaders underline risks of Iran war for Ukraine
Zelenskyy said the London talks, also attended by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. would assess energy security, after Russia hammered Ukraine’s power grid over the winter, and the battlefield situation.
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In Brussels, the European Union’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas noted Tuesday that Russia stands to achieve from higher energy prices and the rerouting of advanced Western air defense systems from Ukraine to the Middle East.
But, she said, Ukraine “stays Europe’s top security priority and a spotlight for Ukraine won’t be allowed to fizzle out.”
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said the Iran war is bad for Ukraine, “mainly due to the oil price which feeds the Russian war machinery. The Russian economy was actually doing extremely badly a few weeks back. Now it’s bouncing back.”
Canadian Defence Minister David McGuinty and Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada on Tuesday headlined an event at Roschel’s Brampton, Ont., plant, which has manufactured lots of of armoured vehicles purchased by Ottawa for Ukraine’s armed forces.
Each officials underscored the importance of constant to arm Ukraine. Yet in one other sign of shifting focus, nearly every query from reporters was focused on Iran, with none on Ukraine or Russia.
Ukraine losing out with Middle East conflict, analysts say
U.S. President Donald Trump says he desires to secure a peace deal that ends Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II and has rattled the continent’s leaders, who reckon that Russia could pose a reputable security threat to the European Union by the tip of the last decade.
However the U.S.-mediated talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv, which thus far have yielded no significant progress on key issues, are on hold throughout the Middle East conflict.
Ukraine is the “ultimate loser” from the war with Iran, said Ed Arnold, Senior Research Fellow on the Royal United Services Institute in London. He said the war is draining stocks of American air defense missiles which can be crucial for Kyiv to shoot down Russian missiles and is diverting Washington’s attention from Russia-Ukraine negotiations.
François Heisbourg, special adviser on the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, said it is necessary for Ukraine to secure deals with Gulf states for advanced air defense systems in exchange for Ukrainian anti-drone expertise and technology.
UK and Ukraine eye drone deal that Trump spurned
Ukraine has grow to be one in every of the world’s leading producers of high-tech, battle-tested drone interceptors.
Zelensky stressed that Ukraine’s experience may be an asset within the Middle East war. He said greater than 200 Ukrainian military experts are within the region to share expertise in defeating Iranian drones, which have been utilized in vast numbers by Russia. Ukraine has developed low-cost and effective ways to shoot them down, he said, showing off an iPad-controlled defense system utilized by Ukraine’s military.
Trump has spurned Zelenskyy’s offer of help for america and its Persian Gulf partners in fighting Iranian drones.
British officials say Russia and Iran are collaborating on drone technology and tactics, and argued that Europe must also raise its game with regards to defense technology.
During Zelenskyy’s visit, the U.K. and Ukraine signed a deal combining “Ukraine’s expertise and the U.K.’s industrial base to fabricate and provide drones and modern capabilities.” Britain can be funding an “AI Center of Excellence” along side the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
Ukraine counterattacks on front line, Kremlin calls resistance ‘futile’
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 206 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian regions, the annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Azov Sea. A complete of 40 intercepted drones were flying toward Moscow, the ministry said.
Asked about a rise in Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow over the past few days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that authorities in Kyiv were “continuing absolutely futile resistance.”
Zelenskyy said late Monday that counterattacks by Ukrainian forces at eastern and southern points along the front line have wrecked Moscow’s plans for a March offensive.
His comments couldn’t be independently verified, however the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Monday that Ukrainian counterattacks “are likely constraining” some Russian offensive operations.
Associated Press writers Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine and Emma Burrows in London contributed to this report.