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and now wants to capitalize on it.

Ukraine is forced to trade its anti-drone expertise at this time. Explanation below.

Around Iran, during 3 days, the US, Israel and Arab countries have shot off the same amount of Patriot missiles as Ukraine has consumed in 4 years. They are doing something wrong, overconsuming missiles at a crazy pace.

This is unrelated to drones, but the balance of ballistic attack and defense is tilted heavily in favour of attack. If you are over 50% sane, you only defend if you absolutely must. Most of time, you calculate the trajectory, sound the alarm in relevant areas, everyone takes cover - and you absorb the hits. Because defending would bankrupt you. For example, an Iranian "Zolfaghar" ballistic missile costs around 150 K euros, while a Patriot PAC-3 interceptor might cost 4 M euros, and typical defensive tactics involve shooting 2 per target. (It is very fortunate that the Russian Iskander is a precision weapon with midcourse corrections and not comparably cheap.)

Ukraine has a dependency they cannot alleviate. About 75% of Ukraininan antiballistic defense relies on Patriot imports from the US to knock down Iskander, Kinzhal and similar items on certain trajectories (not all trajectories). European production of Aster and South Korean production of KM-SAM is unlikely to have enough volume. Buying from South Korea is doubtful if the US is pulling out Patriot and THAAD deployments for sending to the Middle East (South Korea has North Korea to worry about).

If Ukraine does not apply every political lever to ensure continued supply of Patriot missiles, a time will come when Putin will be given a menu every morning - to decide which Ukrainian power plants must stop working next evening.

This is not something that Ukraine can afford. So they will leverage their antidrone knowledge to get a continued supply of missiles, at least until their own missiles start reaching Russian missile factories. Currently they rarely catch Russian launch vehicles. They have made a good attempt at attacking a factory producing Russian "Iskander" missiles, but only 1 building was hit. They will be fired at, and need a sufficient number of interceptors to stay functioning.

So, they will smile and offer an exchange on some mutually bearable terms. Then they return home and curse - properly. Foremost they will be cursing the utter stupidity of the orange toddler who picked an avoidable battle at the wrong time (or allowed a certain war criminal to drag him into it).

Z easily the greatest leader of the 21st century.

Only if Vance says thank you on national news.

Why the fuck should Zelensky lift a fucking finger for Trump after the fucking circus show they put on during his first official WH visit during Trumps first term?

WELL WELL WELL

I hope they remember to say "Thank you!".

“Partners are turning to us…. Requests on this matter have also come from the American side.”

Unless there’s a translation issue, it’s interesting to me that the phrasing very much calls out that the US is not a partner

There's a reason Ukraine is offering its expertise. The country has been shooting down Russian missiles and drones — especially Iran-designed Shahed drones — for more than four years. In January, Ukraine faced an average of 143 Shahed-type drone and decoys daily, intercepting 122 of them, according to a study by the Institute for Science and International Security.

Ukrainian units haven't just mastered drone defenses, they've reshaped the battlefield with offensive drone tactics — as seen last year during Estonia’s Hedgehog drills, where a 10-person Ukrainian Nemesis drone team outmaneuvered two NATO battalions. As Western and Gulf militaries scramble to adapt to Iran’s expanding drone campaign, Kyiv is signaling it is ready to teach others its battlefield lessons.

Key Ukrainian tactics included attacking NATO troops from the rear (where they thought they were safe), surveying allied formations gathered in large groups (often without proper camouflage), mining the approach roads they were taking, and using electronic warfare to turn off key equipment.

Good for them. I'm somewhat saddened to hear that Zelenskiy is sharing info with tRump, but I get it. Maybe this time the orange dipshit will respect Zelenskiy and Ukraine's mastery of new tactics.

What an epic come back.

Then maybe he should fund a drastic expansion of the production of them.

Dear Earth, defend Ukraine physically, financially and morally. Get them into the EU & NATO. And maybe you will deserve their help in other matters.

I understand he's desperate but I'd lose a lot of respect for Zelensky if he went ahead with this. He of all people should know what it's like when murderous imperialists try to force regime change on you.