Ukraine has begun deploying specialist counter-drone teams to several Gulf countries, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, as regional governments seek Kyiv’s expertise in defending against Iranian-designed attack drones.

Ukrainian officials said the teams consist of military specialists who have spent years developing techniques to detect, track and destroy low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The units are expected to assist regional partners in strengthening air-defence systems and improving operational responses to drone attacks.

The deployment follows requests from several Middle Eastern states and the United States for Ukrainian support after a surge in drone strikes linked to the widening confrontation involving Iran and its regional adversaries.

Iranian-made Shahed drones, widely used in conflicts across the region, have recently been launched against multiple countries in the Gulf.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that three fully equipped expert teams would be dispatched to the Gulf, while another group was being assigned to assist operations connected to a United States military base in Jordan.

The specialists are expected to provide technical guidance, training and operational advice on counter-drone tactics refined during Ukraine’s own conflict.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion began more than four years ago, Ukrainian cities and infrastructure have been targeted by tens of thousands of Iranian-designed Shahed drones deployed by Russian forces.

In response, Ukraine has developed a wide range of countermeasures, including interceptor drones, electronic warfare systems and acoustic detection networks capable of identifying incoming aircraft even when radar coverage is limited.

These battlefield innovations have attracted growing interest from governments confronting similar threats.

Defence officials in Gulf states have reported large numbers of drones detected in recent attacks, highlighting the difficulty of intercepting inexpensive unmanned aircraft with traditional missile-based air-defence systems.

Ukrainian engineers have promoted low-cost interception technologies designed specifically to counter drone swarms.

Some of these systems involve small interceptor drones that collide with or detonate near incoming targets, while others rely on distributed sensor networks and electronic jamming devices to disrupt guidance signals.

The cooperation represents an unusual reversal of roles in international defence assistance.

While Ukraine remains heavily dependent on foreign military support in its war with Russia, its hard-earned experience in drone warfare has positioned the country as a valuable source of expertise for partners facing the same technology on the battlefield.

Ukrainian officials have emphasised that any overseas cooperation will not undermine the country’s own defences.

Kyiv continues to face regular drone attacks along a front stretching more than one thousand kilometres, and maintaining domestic air-defence capacity remains a top priority.

Nevertheless, the deployment underscores how rapidly the lessons of modern warfare are spreading beyond Ukraine’s borders.

As low-cost drones increasingly reshape conflicts across the Middle East, Ukraine’s experience on the front lines is becoming an unexpected resource for governments seeking to protect critical infrastructure and civilian populations from aerial threats.