While Donald Trump was tweeting obscenities and threats of war crimes on Easter, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was out doing real presidential things, building international military and economic cooperation around the Middle East:
The leaders of Ukraine and Syria have pledged greater security cooperation, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Kyiv offers its military expertise to governments across the Middle East region amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Zelenskyy held talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Sunday, in his first trip to the Syrian capital since former leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted in 2024.
…Ukraine, which has developed expertise in countering drone attacks in its more than four-year war with Russia, has offered its country’s expertise during Zelenskyy’s visits to countries in the region, and has sent teams to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
During his visit to the Gulf states last week, Zelenskyy signed long-term military cooperation deals with Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Syria is not known to have any air defences capable of dealing with Iranian drones or missiles.
Zelenskyy also told al-Sharaa that Kyiv was a reliable grain supplier and said the two leaders “discussed joint opportunities to strengthen food security across the region”,
According to Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry on X, the country’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, also met Zelenskyy in Damascus on Sunday, as well as his Syrian counterpart, Asaad al-Shaibani and Ukraine’s Andrii Sybiha.
The meeting with foreign ministers came a day after Zelenskyy visited Turkiye, met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed on “new steps” in security cooperation, and discussed joint gas infrastructure projects and gasfield developments [Edna Mohamed and Reuters, “Ukraine and Syria to Cooperate on Security, Zelenskyy Says,” Aljazeera, 2026.04.05].
Zelensky has some strong cards to play in forging alliances, because Ukraine has learned a lot kicking Russia’s ass:
Ukraine has been forced into the opposite direction. Battlefield products are quickly judged by how effectively they solve real life-or-death operational problems. That pressure has accelerated in drone production, but also in software, electronic warfare, communications, robotics, navigation, and mission systems. This is why Ukraine is on track to build a staggering 7 million drones in 2026 and is rapidly gaining global dominance in this space.
It’s also why Brave1 and the wider Ukrainian defense-tech ecosystem should matter to U.S. policymakers. They show that Ukraine’s innovation capacity is becoming more organized, more scalable, and more visible to international partners. What outside observers sometimes describe as a collection of wartime startups is in fact a real and maturing industrial and technological base.
Ukraine also now has something few countries can replicate: a uniquely relevant modern warfare dataset. The combination of real operations, rapid iteration, and practical deployment creates learning conditions that are difficult to simulate elsewhere. In an era when autonomy, targeting, and machine-assisted decision-making will shape military competition, data and testing environments matter as much as hardware. Ukraine has become one of the places where that future is being built under real pressure.
Ukraine’s defense innovation efforts are also reshaping global geopolitics, particularly amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The deployment of Ukrainian specialists to the region shows that Ukrainian know-how is becoming globally relevant. The expertise Ukrainian companies and frontline operators gained in defending Ukrainian skies is now being widely viewed as a practical necessity for the future of warfare.
That point should resonate more widely in Washington. For years, the default framework for Ukraine advocates in Washington has been straightforward: Send aid, transfer weapons, sustain Ukraine’s resistance. But this also allowed Ukraine detractors to paint the country as a burden to U.S. taxpayers and a strategic liability. Policymakers can now validly argue that Ukraine can be an equal defense partner to the U.S. — one with whom it can build cutting-edge technologies, as it has with Israel in the last several decades [Volodymyr Berezhniy and Igor Khrestin, “US Should Formally Partner with Ukraine to Build Cutting-Edge Defense Technologies,” The Hill, 2026.03.29].
While Trump rants about leaving NATO because Denmark won’t give him Greenland, President Zelenzkyy is online preaching the gospel of alliances for stability and peace:
Our goal is absolutely clear: stability and peace are needed in Europe, stability and peace are needed in the Middle East and the Gulf, as well as in other globally important regions, so that the world does not face such challenges caused by destabilized markets, destroyed energy sector, disrupted navigation, nuclear threat, or food insecurity.
All nations deserve security – and we will have new security agreements as well. These will certainly strengthen Ukraine. Today, many different countries want to cooperate with Ukraine as a security partner, and we are open to cooperation with all those who support our sovereignty, our independence, and respect our people. Thank you for making Ukraine what it is today – and for the respect Ukraine commands.
Glory to Ukraine! [President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, FB, 2026.04.06]
President Zelenskyy also reminds us of our moral obligation to stand together against war-happy dictators wreaking terror on civilians:
Seven people are currently in the hospital after a Russian FPV drone struck an ordinary city minibus in Nikopol. Another nine received assistance at the scene. Tragically, four people were killed. My condolences to their families and loved ones.
The Russians continue their deliberate terror against people in Nikopol and other cities and communities near the frontline. Just days ago, there was a cynical strike on a market in Nikopol that killed five people and injured another 28. In Kherson, civilians are effectively subjected to constant so-called “safaris”, with casualties every day. It is important that a significant number of drones are still being shot down. But when such terror against people and lives occurs daily, blocking new sanctions against Russia, attempting to weaken existing ones, and trading with Russia all look bizarre.
This must not happen – not here in Europe, nor anywhere in the world – when people are simply being killed on city streets. This is a threat to everyone. Murderers always try to go further. They must be stopped immediately, decisively – and this can only be done together, through coordination and by strengthening one another in the protection of life. Thank you to everyone who is helping Ukraine! [President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, FB, 2026.04.07]
Under attack from Russia, watching his people fight and die, and President Zelenskyy still manages to promote international cooperation and moral courage without tweeting a single f-bomb.
Zelensky is a great man. Our tyrannical twit isn’t.