The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky met on Friday in Jeddah with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, during his second visit to the kingdom in less than a month, and announced a strategic security agreement structured around three key pillars.
Zelensky described the meeting as "very productive" and detailed that bilateral cooperation is progressing in the export of Ukrainian experience in air defense, energy cooperation, and food security.
"There is a strategic security arrangement that we are actively developing in three key areas," wrote the Ukrainian leader after the meeting, specifying that concrete tasks have been set for the teams of both countries and that he hopes for "a prompt and complete implementation."
The Ukrainian president emphasized the importance of the geopolitical moment: "Now, when international relations are significantly destabilized, it is precisely this type of bilateral commitment that restores trust."
The visit this Friday occurs based on agreements reached during Zelensky's first trip to Saudi Arabia on March 26 and 27, when both countries signed the first Defense Cooperation Agreement between their ministries, a historic milestone in bilateral relations.
This agreement, which spans a decade, establishes the foundations for future contracts, technological cooperation, and investments, focusing on Ukrainian capabilities to counter drones, drawing from experience gained in combat against the Iranian Shahed drones and their Russian derivatives, Geran.
As part of these commitments, the deployment of over 200 Ukrainian experts in counter-drone measures in Saudi Arabia was agreed upon, and Ukrainian companies such as SkyFall and Wild Hornets have caught the interest of Saudi Aramco in interceptor drones.
During the regional tour in March, Zelensky also signed ten-year defense agreements with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as part of a deliberate strategy to diversify geopolitically beyond the Western bloc. Eleven nations from the Gulf and the Caucasus have requested agreements for drone cooperation with Ukraine.
The intensification of Ukrainian diplomacy with the Gulf is set against the backdrop of stalled peace negotiations with Russia: Moscow has maintained a "situational pause" since April 6, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated that peace negotiations are not a priority for Russia.
The meeting this Friday took place a day after Zelensky secured financial guarantees with European leaders in Cyprus, as part of the preliminary approval of a 90 billion euros loan from the European Union for Ukraine.
Both leaders also exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf. "We expect greater security, and we are working to bring it closer," Zelensky stated.
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