Zelenskyy hints at Caucasus cooperation as part of Drone Deal
Photo: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine (Getty Images)
Ukraine is in talks to expand its Drone Deal program to new regions. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hinted that the Caucasus could be among them in an interview with ICTV.
"We have begun working on this program called the Drone Deal. It is a multi-year program of cooperation between Ukraine and another country from a given continent, aimed at providing expertise and assistance in protecting against large-scale attacks on critical civilian infrastructure," he explained.
According to the President, the program has already attracted significant interest in the Middle East, where Ukraine has reached preliminary agreements that are expected to evolve into concrete contracts.
"We have reached agreements today with key countries — the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar — on 10-year contracts," he said.
He clarified that the Drone Deal includes not only the export of Ukrainian technologies, but also joint production, the construction of facilities abroad, and long-term investment in the drone sector.
Ukraine has currently received requests from 11 countries across the region.
"We have requests from 11 countries across the region. That includes the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, and we are also looking a bit at the Caucasus. I’m not opening all our cards for now — the ones we don’t have, but seem to have a little," Zelenskyy noted.
Separately, the President said Ukraine is also developing cooperation with European partners, while emphasizing that interest in Ukrainian technologies is growing in other regions of the world.
"Europe is where our work has begun with Germany, Norway, Italy, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Of course, we have strong relations with the UK and France, and I am confident that this will also move forward there. This is the European cluster. Our current capacity — Ukraine’s defense sector, which is now largely made up of the private sector — has grown manyfold," he added.
Drone Deal
Ukraine initially proposed the Drone Deal format to the United States as a way to strengthen air defense. The idea was an exchange: Ukrainian drone defense technologies in return for US systems to counter ballistic missiles.
According to Zelenskyy, such a model could help attract additional funding and systematically address critical air defense needs. However, despite interest from US President Donald Trump and the US military leadership, no final decision on implementing the initiative has been made.
Ukraine has since begun expanding the circle of potential partners. In particular, Italy has already expressed interest in signing such an agreement, and the sides have agreed to explore the possibility of concluding it.
