Zelenski, manifesto speech in London about the danger of drones for Europe. “Not only a rich madman like Putin can afford this”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Westminster on Tuesday that “mass attacks no longer cost billions” as drone technology advances, and European nations must be prepared “for any kind of attack, including from non-state actors, criminal networks, terrorist groups and lone attackers who can gain access to such technologies,” The Guardian reported.
Ukraine's leader said that “with the spread of drones, mass attacks no longer cost billions.”
“It costs much less. Unfortunately, not only a rich fool like Putin can afford it,” said Volodymyr Zelensky.
The conflict in the Middle East, he suggested, “is not a distant war for Ukraine,” given the sharing of military technology between Iran and Russia.
“If evil wins, the evolution of the war will cross any distance on earth, no ocean will help, no desert, no mountain (…). The regimes in Russia and Iran are brothers in hatred and that is why they are brothers in arms. We do not want such a regime to threaten Europe or our partners,” added the Ukrainian president.
Zelenski accused Russia of using the innovation “to kill”.
“We're not saying that Russia can't innovate. It can, but it does it to kill, maim, destroy. That's what it does best, like the Ayatollahs, you can see it in the way the Shaheds have evolved (…) into drones that are faster, more deadly and already use artificial intelligence,” the Ukrainian head of state said.
Partnership with the UK to counter drones
On the occasion of the visit to London, the president of Ukraine and the British prime minister clapped hands for a new defense partnership, aimed at countering cheap attack drones, according to the BBC.
The deal will bring together “Ukrainian expertise and the UK's industrial base” to manufacture and supply drones and other capabilities, according to the Downing Street statement.
The partnership also provides for closer cooperation with third countries in the field of defense industries as part of efforts to strengthen international security.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “the focus must remain on Ukraine” despite the war in the Middle East, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin “must not be the one to gain from a conflict in Iran, whether it's oil prices or lifting sanctions.”
On Monday, the Financial Times reported that European leaders have tried to keep Ukraine front and center since war broke out in the Middle East. Zelenski was in Paris on Friday, in the context of which an Élysée official claimed an “eclipsing effect” of the conflict between the US-Israel and Iran.
