Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on March 3 suggested that Kyiv could supply its domestically developed interceptor drones to the United States and its allies in exchange for additional Patriot interceptor missiles, as Iranian-made Shahed drones increasingly threaten Western forces in the Middle East, reported The Kyiv Independent.

Ukraine is currently facing a critical shortage of PAC-3 interceptor missiles used by the MIM-104 Patriot air defence system to counter Russia’s frequent ballistic missile strikes. At the same time, U.S. and allied forces in the Middle East have come under heavy attack from Iranian-designed Shahed loitering munition drones following recent US-Israeli strikes in the region.

Speaking at a briefing with journalists attended by the The Kyiv Independent, Zelenskiy said Ukraine could offer its growing expertise in countering Shahed attacks.

“Of course, this is everyone’s number one question — how to protect the sky,” he said.

Zelenskiy noted that the United States and other Western countries possess stockpiles of Patriot interceptor missiles but questioned their effectiveness against large-scale drone barrages.

“But does it protect against hundreds of Shaheds? No, and we have a shortage of PAC-3s,” he said. “If they give them to us, we will give them interceptors. It is an equal exchange.”

Ukraine has developed interceptor drones specifically designed to destroy incoming Shahed attack drones, which Russia has used extensively to strike Ukrainian cities and infrastructure since 2022.

The shortage of air defence missiles has at times left some Ukrainian systems without ammunition. In early February, Yurii Ihnat, head of the communications department of Ukraine’s Air Force, warned that certain air defence units had temporarily run out of interceptor missiles amid the continued threat of Russian missile strikes.

He made the remarks in a February 2 interview with RBC-Ukraine.