Ukraine's role in Middle East war could boost its negotiating leverage – expert

Ukraine's wartime experience can be leveraged into additional security guarantees and stronger negotiating positions for the country.

Oleksandr Kraiev, head of the Ukrainian Prism Foreign Policy Council, said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

"Our experience is something we can trade for additional security and a stronger negotiating position. We are showing the world that we are a more interesting and valuable partner than Russia. Countries in the Middle East have had long-standing relations with Russia, contracts with it, and essentially saw no one else in the post-Soviet space besides Moscow," the expert said.

He stressed that Ukraine has been able to provide Middle Eastern countries with qualitatively new equipment, demonstrate a new type of partnership, and contribute to security.

"We are also showing that in the long term, building relations with Ukraine is far more beneficial than with Moscow," Kraiev added.

As Ukrinform earlier reported, Russia has helped Iran improve its strike drones, creating a threat now faced by Israel, Gulf countries, and U.S. forces in the Middle East – one that Ukraine encountered several years ago.