Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the UK parliament that 201 Ukrainian anti-drone military experts are now stationed in the Middle East to help defend the region against Iranian-designed Shahed drones, with a further 34 ready to deploy. Speaking in London on Tuesday alongside Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Ukrainian president said teams were already in the Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and were on their way to Kuwait. He warned that European nations should prepare for attacks by criminal networks, terror groups and lone actors as drone technology becomes more accessible.
The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, cautioned that Russia stands to gain from higher energy prices and the rerouting of advanced air defence systems from Ukraine to the Middle East. She pushed back against calls for normalising relations with Moscow, saying: “If we just go back to business as usual, we will have more of this – more wars.” Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, agreed, noting that the Iran war was bad for Ukraine largely because of the oil price, which feeds the Russian war machine. The US has temporarily waived some Russian oil sanctions to ease global supply pressure, a move criticised by some European leaders.
Ukraine has accepted an EU offer of technical support and funding to restore oil flows through the damaged Druzhba pipeline, but signalled that resumption of Russian crude deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia remains weeks away. In a letter released on Tuesday, President Zelenskyy said repair work was nearing completion and the pumping station was expected to be restored within one and a half months, “in the absence of any further attacks by Russia”. Budapest and Bratislava accuse Kyiv of delaying the restart, a claim the Ukrainian government denies.
UK officials are preparing for a possible court case against the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich after he missed a deadline to release £2.4bn raised from selling Chelsea FC. Abramovich sold the club in 2022 under government pressure following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with a licence requiring the proceeds to be spent supporting war victims. The two sides remain deadlocked over whether the money should be spent exclusively in Ukraine.
Romania’s defence ministry said it was searching for drone fragments near the village of Plauru after a Russian overnight attack on Ukrainian infrastructure, and scrambled two F-16 fighter jets to monitor the incident. Meanwhile, Turkey’s foreign minister reiterated that Ankara is ready to host the next round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine during a call with his Russian counterpart.
