Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is warning that a drawn-out U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran risks sidelining Ukraine and starving his country of the American-made Patriot air defense systems it needs to survive Russias escalating missile war.
Speaking in Istanbul in an exclusive late-Saturday interview, Zelenskyy told The Associated Press that Ukraine is bracing for a downturn in U.S. support as Washingtons attention and finite military stockpiles are increasingly diverted to the Middle East, according to Breitbart. The Ukrainian leader, who has spent more than four years trying to keep his country at the center of Western security priorities, now fears that a grinding Iran conflict could accelerate what he sees as an already visible shift in U.S. focus and resources away from Eastern Europe.
Ukraines most urgent requirement, Zelenskyy stressed, is additional Patriot systems, which he described as indispensable for intercepting Russian ballistic missiles that pound cities far from the front line. Ukraine desperately needs more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems to help it counter Russias daily barrages, he said, underscoring that Kyiv still has no effective substitute for the American technology.
Russias full-scale invasion has been marked by relentless strikes on urban centers and critical infrastructure, killing thousands of civilians and systematically targeting Ukraines energy grid. Those attacks are designed not only to terrorize the population and deprive them of heat and running water in winter, but also to cripple industrial production of Ukraines domestically developed drones and missiles, which have become central to Kyivs asymmetric response.
Zelenskyy acknowledged that, in the hierarchy of Washingtons current crises, Ukraine has slipped down the list. We have to recognize that we are not the priority for today, he said, adding bluntly: Thats why I am afraid a long (Iran) war will give us less support.
Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have stalled, with the latest U.S.-brokered talks between Russian and Ukrainian envoys in February producing no sign of progress. Zelenskyy, who has accused Moscow of trying to drag out negotiations while continuing its offensive, said Kyiv remains in contact with U.S. negotiators about a potential settlement and is still pressing for stronger, binding security guarantees from the West.
Even those discussions, he suggested, reflect a broader international loss of focus on Ukraine as new crises compete for attention. His immediate preoccupation, however, is the Patriot inventory, which he says was never sufficient and is now at risk of being further diluted as Washington and its allies scramble to reinforce Israel and counter Iran.
These U.S. systems were never delivered in sufficient quantities to begin with, Zelenskyy said, warning that if the Iran war drags on, the package which is not very big for us I think will be smaller and smaller day by day. Thats why, of course, we are afraid, he added, making clear that Kyiv sees the Patriot shortfall as a matter of national survival rather than diplomatic leverage.
Zelenskyy had hoped European partners could help bridge the gap by financing additional Patriot purchases, despite tight global supply and limited U.S. production capacity. Yet the Iran war, now in its sixth week, has sent tremors through the global economy and drawn in much of the wider Middle East, further straining already limited Western stockpiles and leaving Ukrainian cities more vulnerable to Russian ballistic salvos.
For Kyiv, a central strategic objective has been to weaken Russias economy and make the war prohibitively expensive for the Kremlin. That plan is being undercut by surging oil prices driven by Irans closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which are boosting Moscows energy revenues and strengthening its capacity to sustain a long war.
In his remarks to the AP, Zelenskyy argued that Russia is profiting directly from the turmoil in the Middle East, including from a limited easing of U.S. sanctions on Russian oil. Russia gets additional money because of this, so yes, they have benefits, he said, pointing to what many conservatives see as the unintended consequence of Washingtons sanctions management and energy policies.
Russian officials reported Sunday that a fire broke out at a major oil refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region after a drone strike, while another drone damaged a pipeline at the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk, a key oil export terminal. No casualties were reported, but the incidents highlighted the growing reach of Ukraines long-range drone campaign against Russian energy infrastructure.
Moscow nonetheless stands to gain from higher global oil prices and a temporary U.S. waiver on certain Russian oil sanctions intended to ease supply shortages as the Iran war continues. As one of the worlds leading oil exporters, Russia is finding eager buyers in Asia, where nations are increasingly competing for Russian crude amid a deepening energy crunch.
In response, Ukraine has intensified its drone attacks on Russian oil facilities, seeking to impose costs on the Kremlin and disrupt its export capacity. Those strikes have rattled Moscow and underscored Ukraines growing technological sophistication, even as Kyiv struggles to secure enough Western air defense systems to protect its own territory.
To keep Ukraine on the international agenda, Zelenskyy has offered to share his countrys hard-earned battlefield expertise with the United States and its allies to help them develop effective countermeasures against Iranian attacks. Ukraine has confronted Russias evolving use of Iranian-made Shahed drones with what he described as a combination of ingenuity, rapid adaptation, and low-cost solutions.
Moscow has significantly modified the original Shahed-136, rebranding it as the Geran-2 and enhancing its ability to evade air defenses and be mass produced. Ukraine responded with its own innovations, including inexpensive interceptor drones designed to track and destroy incoming Shaheds, a model of lean, adaptive warfare that stands in contrast to the Wests often bureaucratic defense procurement systems.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine is prepared to share with Gulf Arab states targeted by Iran its experience and technology, including interceptor drones and sea drones, which Ukraine produces in greater numbers than it currently expends thanks to funding from American and European partners. In exchange, he said, these countries could assist Ukraine with anti-ballistic missiles, creating a mutually beneficial security partnership that bypasses some of the bottlenecks in Western supply chains.
In late March, as the Iran war escalated, Zelenskyy traveled to Gulf Arab states to promote Ukraines unique experience in countering Iranian-made Shahed drones. Those visits, he said, have already led to new defense cooperation agreements, potentially opening another channel of support at a time when Western resolve appears less certain.
Zelenskyy has also cast Ukraine as a potential partner in safeguarding global trade routes, offering to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz by sharing lessons learned from securing maritime corridors in the Black Sea. That pitch aligns with a broader conservative argument that stable sea lanes and energy flows are vital to the free worlds economic health and should not be left at the mercy of hostile regimes.
The Ukrainian president was in Istanbul for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a day after Erdogan spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy said they discussed possible peace talks and a potential leaders summit in Istanbul, and he indicated that new defense agreements between Ukraine and Turkey could be signed soon.
On the ground, the war remains a brutal contest of attrition, with Russia increasing pressure each year as the weather improves. Despite its larger army, Moscow has failed to seize major Ukrainian cities and has made only incremental gains in rural areas, though it still occupies about 20% of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.
Along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line stretching across eastern and southern Ukraine, undermanned Ukrainian units are preparing for a new Russian offensive. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraines armed forces, said Russian troops have recently launched simultaneous attempts to break through defensive lines in several strategic sectors.
Against that backdrop, Zelenskyy insists that territorial concessions are not on the table, despite mounting pressure in some Western circles for a negotiated settlement that could involve ceding land. One thing he says he has insisted on and will continue to insist on is that a territorial compromise and giving up land will not be on Ukraines agenda, a stance that resonates with those who argue that rewarding aggression only invites more of it.
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