‘The focus will shift to Iran’

Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to world affairs editor Sam Kiley about his fear that the conflict in the Middle East could leave Ukraine without the weapons it requires to defend its people

-  Sam Kiley

The US war with Iran risks leaving Ukraine vulnerable to Vladimir Putin's forces, Volodymyr Zelensky has warned, as Donald Trump turns his firepower on the Middle Eastern country.

In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with The Independent, the Ukrainian president shared his concerns about the impact of the growing conflict with Iran on his country’s efforts to defend its people against Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine could now face a shortage of air defence missiles to protect its cities from attacks, he said, as the US and its allies use hundreds of these weapons to defend against Iran’s waves of drones and rockets.

“The focus will shift to the Middle East, to the Iranian war, now, and to the United States and also to Israel,” Mr Zelensky told the World of Trouble podcast. “This is very understandable. And to the countries in the Middle East, who are now under attacks, massive attacks of drones and missiles from the Iranian side.

“Our estimation, of course, is that air defence [for Ukraine] could decrease.”

Mr Zelensky, who has been a vocal supporter of the latest US-Israeli air campaigns in Iran, and called for more support for the popular uprising earlier this year, said he has prepared his commanders to cope with the predicted shortfall in their own defences. The Ukrainian president was clear that he was not complaining, but rather setting out the practical reality his country faces as the war against Iran continues.

There are few defences against incoming ballistic missiles, which are fired in an arc, taking them into space and bringing them down at up to five times the speed of sound. Russia has been using them against Ukraine for four years.