SECURITYJune 24, 2026

Ukraine’s strategic leap into Gulf security

Giorgio Cafiero 

Reading time: 8 min

Drone diplomacy is expanding Kyiv’s geopolitical influence and leading to new security and strategic partnerships with Arab Gulf states.

Iranian attacks on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states during the United States and Israel’s war on Iran have created an unexpected opening for Ukraine to play a role in Gulf security. Having endured years of large-scale Russian strikes using Iranian-designed Shahed drones, Ukraine has emerged as a global leader in drone warfare and counter-drone operations, while rapidly building a sophisticated domestic drone industry.

As Gulf states seek urgent capabilities and operational expertise to defend against Iranian drone threats, Kyiv has moved quickly to translate its battlefield experience into strategic partnerships with GCC members. Other Middle East countries are also showing interest.

This convergence of Gulf security concerns and Ukraine’s wartime innovation positions Kyiv to turn its hard-earned expertise into a new form of statecraft, strengthening its economic and geopolitical standing while establishing itself as an increasingly valuable security partner to the Arab Gulf monarchies.

Kyiv to turn its hard-earned expertise into a new form of statecraft.

Drone revolution and Gulf engagement

Ukraine’s rise as a global leader in drone warfare has been striking in both its speed and scale. NATO members are drawing on Ukraine’s operational experience and rapidly expanding drone industry, which is now capable of producing millions of units annually. Ukrainian firms have established joint production ventures in countries including the United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany, while Kyiv has also concluded defense cooperation agreements with Berlin and Oslo.

In parallel, Ukraine has begun providing NATO allies with training in drone operations and counter-drone tactics, further embedding its expertise within the transatlantic security framework.

As a result, military officials across European NATO members have come to regard Ukraine not merely as a beneficiary of Western support, but as an indispensable pillar of the continent’s security. This shift marks a profound reversal from the pre-2022 period and underscores how Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor has transformed Ukraine into a global hub of innovation in modern warfare, particularly in the field of drone technology.

Kyiv’s value to the Gulf

The Arab Gulf states have long been reliant on defense contractors from the U.S., the UK and a handful of other Western powers. Now, expanding cooperation with Ukraine in the field of drone warfare offers GCC members an opportunity to diversify their defense partnerships. The appeal of Ukraine goes beyond the effectiveness of its interceptor drones – Kyiv is also far less likely than Western capitals to attach political strings to defense and security deals with Gulf countries.

In late March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited four Arab states – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan – to discuss military-technical cooperation between Ukraine and regional states facing Iranian attacks. The tour proved highly productive and Kyiv concluded agreements with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. Ukrainian firms will cooperate with the armed forces of these states to help protect critical infrastructure while the Gulf partners will supply Ukraine with crude oil, diesel and anti-aircraft ammunition for the defense of its own energy facilities. The remaining GCC members – Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman – have initiated discussions with Kyiv regarding similar arrangements.

Washington’s standing as a credible security guarantor of GCC members has eroded in recent years and deteriorated sharply after President Donald Trump aligned with Israel in the war against Iran, apparently with little, if any, regard for the security concerns of America’s Gulf allies and partners.

While Ukraine cannot singlehandedly replace the U.S. as the Gulf’s principal security guarantor, GCC states are nevertheless likely to cultivate ties with a range of countries that can collectively help reduce their dependence on Washington’s security umbrella. Within this broader strategy of diversifying defense partnerships, Gulf states are likely to view Ukraine – alongside China, Turkiye, Russia and, in the case of the UAE, also Israel – as a valuable partner in an evolving security environment.

Moreover, while deeper security cooperation with China and Russia risks unsettling the GCC’s Western allies and closer defense ties with Israel could undermine the domestic and regional legitimacy of Arab leaders, expanding relations with Ukraine carries comparatively few political costs beyond the possibility of generating some friction with Moscow.

The post-war future of Ukraine

Advancing its interests as a defense and security partner for countries confronting Iranian threats strengthens Kyiv’s relationships in the Arab world and helps Ukraine reduce its NATO-centric foreign policy orientation. Although its most important partnerships will continue to lie within Europe and the transatlantic alliance, deeper engagement with the Gulf states will further bolster Kyiv’s geostrategic options. For a country at war with a far larger neighbor, the pursuit of additional partners, particularly influential, energy-rich states with substantial geopolitical weight such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is both natural and prudent.

From Ukraine’s perspective, supporting GCC members could pave the way for deeper and more consequential ties between Kyiv and the monarchies. This in turn positions Gulf states for a larger role in Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction, as potential investors in its defense technology sector and as suppliers of energy resources and interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems.

A new role as security provider

The growing convergence between Ukrainian battlefield innovation and Gulf security concerns reflects a broader transformation on the international stage amid a period of growing disorder. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has served to reshape European geopolitics while also accelerating Ukraine’s emergence as an influential actor in the global defense sector.

For the region’s monarchies, cooperation with Ukraine offers practical and political advantages. On a practical level, Ukraine provides highly relevant operational knowledge developed under conditions of sustained, large-scale drone warfare. Unlike many Western defense suppliers whose systems are often tested by modeling and in more limited operational environments, Ukraine’s technologies and tactics have evolved amid constant battlefield adaptation against Iranian-designed systems used extensively by Moscow. This gives Kyiv a degree of credibility and immediacy that few other partners can match.

Politically, engaging Ukraine allows GCC states to gain new security partnerships without assuming many of the costs associated with deeper alignment with powers such as China, Russia or Israel.

Read more by Middle East expert Giorgio Cafiero

• The Saudi Arabia-UAE ‘cold war’ in Yemen
• Azerbaijan’s strategic reentry into post-Assad Syria
• U.S.-Saudi transactional ties and strategic ambitions

For Kyiv, such relationships carry significance that extends well beyond military cooperation. Stronger ties with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and potentially the rest of the GCC can help Ukraine economically and broaden its diplomatic and economic reach at a time when diversification of international partnerships is pivotal. Gulf investment could become a critical component of Ukraine’s long-term reconstruction and technological development, particularly in the defense-industrial sector where Ukrainian innovation is rapidly advancing.

Simultaneously, deeper Gulf engagement strengthens Ukraine’s position as not merely a recipient of foreign assistance, but as a contributor to international security in its own right.

In the bigger picture, Ukraine’s expanding role in Gulf security illustrates how modern conflicts can generate new geopolitical alignments. What began as a war for national survival has transformed Ukraine into a source of military innovation, strategic expertise and diplomatic opportunity in the Gulf’s evolving security architecture.

Contact us today for tailored geopolitical insights and industry-specific advisory services.

Sign up for our newsletter

Receive insights from our experts every week in your inbox.

Email*

Subscribe

Agreement GDPR

We may inform you about events and products by e-mail or other electronic means.

Information about what personal data we collect about you and how we process it (including information about how we personalize our website for you and deliver content tailored to you) can be found in our privacy policy.