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The US. and Qatar are in discussions with Kyiv about acquiring Ukrainian interceptor drones as a cheap alternative to down Iranian Shahed UAVs amid the war in the Gulf, a source familiar with the \u200bmatter told Reuters.<\/strong><\/p>\n The early-stage talks are taking place between government officials, not companies, and the technology being discussed includes systems to listen out for \u200cincoming enemy drones and disrupt their communication signals, the source said.<\/p>\n Qatar\u2019s International Media Office did not respond to a request for comment. The Pentagon declined to comment.<\/p>\n KYIV HAD DISCUSSED SWAPPING DRONES FOR MISSILES<\/strong><\/p>\n Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday evening the United States had asked Kyiv for help in downing Shaheds.<\/p>\n \u201cI have instructed that the necessary resources be provided and that Ukrainian specialists be present to ensure \u200bthe necessary security,\u201d he said, without giving further details or mentioning Ukrainian interceptor drones.<\/p>\n Zelenskiy said earlier that Ukraine had also received similar requests from Middle \u200bEastern countries and that he would only go ahead with deals if they did not weaken Ukraine\u2019s own defences against Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n He has \u2060also said he would be open to exchanging drones for air defence missiles.<\/p>\n A second source \u2013 a Western diplomat in the Gulf \u2013 said a Ukrainian delegation had travelled to Doha \u200bthis week to meet with Qatari officials to share Ukraine\u2019s experience in drone defence. A delegation also travelled to Abu Dhabi, the diplomat said.<\/p>\n Tehran has fired hundreds of missiles \u200band drones at Gulf countries after the U.S. and Israel launched a massive campaign of air strikes at Iran on Saturday and killed much of the Islamic Republic\u2019s senior leadership.<\/p>\n Gulf countries have managed to intercept most of those strikes, making use of the U.S.-made PAC-3 Patriot systems that Ukraine relies on to defend its own energy and military infrastructure from Russian missiles.<\/p>\n Ukraine, however, has developed \u200bfar cheaper methods of downing the Shahed kamikaze drone during its four-year conflict with Russia, which has been using the Iranian-designed UAVs for much of the war.<\/p>\n Russia has \u200blaunched 19,000 long-range drones at Ukraine this winter, most of which it has downed, Kyiv said.<\/p>\n After the Iran war erupted, Ukraine\u2019s SBU security service warned Ukrainian companies not to sell weapons to \u200cMiddle Eastern \u2060countries without permission from Kyiv, the first source said.<\/p>\n The SBU and Ukraine\u2019s defence ministry did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n A third source said Britain was supporting Ukraine in early-stage talks with Gulf states about the use of Ukrainian drones to intercept Shaheds.<\/p>\n That source said some drones could potentially be supplied by Project Octopus, an existing interceptor drone joint venture between London and Kyiv.<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s Ministry of Defence did not respond to questions. Ukrspecsystems, the Ukrainian company behind the Octopus drone factory in the UK, declined to comment.<\/p>\n US, ALLIES HAVE \u200bUSED HUNDREDS OF DEFENCE MISSILES<\/strong><\/p>\n Zelenskiy said on \u200bWednesday he had spoken with leaders of \u2060the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, without providing details.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s discussions with Washington were first reported by the Financial Times, but Doha\u2019s interest and Britain\u2019s involvement have not previously been reported.<\/p>\n The U.S. and its Gulf allies have expended hundreds of air defence missiles, costing \u200bmillions of dollars apiece, since the Iran conflict began.<\/p>\n Lockheed Martin produces around 600 PAC-3 missiles a year, although it plans \u200bto increase that to \u20602,000 under a seven-year deal with the Pentagon.<\/p>\n Kyiv has been running low on those missiles for months, raising concerns that it would be unable to down Russian ballistic missiles, against which the Patriot is the only effective weapon in its arsenal.<\/p>\n Zelenskiy has proposed swapping Ukrainian interceptor drones for missiles for Patriot systems.<\/p>\n Taras Tymochko from Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian foundation that \u2060has bought \u200btens of thousands of interceptor drones with donations, said it was unclear who, other than Ukrainian crews, \u200bcould operate them.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s rather difficult to remove our pilots from their operations and send them to the Middle East,\u201d Tymochko said. \u201cThere\u2019s a significant need to scale up existing training capacities in Ukraine to share experience with \u200bour partners.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n