Ukraine sent drone experts to protect US bases in Jordan, says Zelenskyy

Interceptor drones and operators deployed to Middle East after ‘requests for help from 11 countries neighbouring Iran’ Ukraine’s president has said he dispatched interceptor drones and operators to protect US bases in Jordan last week, one of 11 countries that had asked Kyiv for help as the US-Israeli war against Iran continued into its 10th day. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview that he had responded to a US request for help in defending Jordan last week as Ukraine seeks to improve relations with Gulf and Middle Eastern countries coming under attack from Iran. Zelenskyy posted on social media that “there are 11 requests from countries neighbouring Iran, European states, and the US” and that some had been met with “concrete decisions and specific support”. Help for Jordan, where the US has maintained a sizeable presence at the Muwaffaq Salti airbase, was requested on Thursday, Zelenskyy told the New York Times. A Ukrainian team departed the next day. Satellite imagery indicates that the radar used by a US Thaad air defence system at the base in Jordan was damaged or even knocked out by Iranian attacks, one of several apparently hit across the region. Orysia Lutsevych, at the