Zelensky's drone diplomacy

It was just over a year ago that President Donald Trump told Volodymyr Zelensky that he didn't “have the cards right now.”

- BY NANDIKA CHATTERJEE AND RICHARD HALL

An interceptor drone on a mission in Ukraine on March 4

Today, the war in Iran may have improved the Ukrainian President's hand.

Iran’s deployment of masses of low-cost drones to attack the Gulf and Israel—hitting oil infrastructure, U.S. bases, and apartment buildings—has exposed a critical gap in the region's air defenses.

While the countries on the receiving end of those attacks possess sophisticated missile-defense systems like the U.S.-made Patriot, they have struggled to absorb the high volume of Iran’s cheap, expendable one-way Shahed attack drones.