Ukraine closes on Mideast deals to help counter Iranian drones

VAUX-DE-CERNAY, France, March 27 (Reuters) - Ukraine is close to clinching several security agreements — including with the UAE and Qatar — to counter Iranian attacks, its foreign minister said on Friday, adding that he saw scope to ​draw China into peace efforts to end the war with Russia.

“We have the situation in the Middle East ‌so it is important not to lose the global attention on the Ukrainian case, because everything is interlinked,” Andrii Sybiha told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in France.

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Kyiv is hoping to bolster support in its war against ​Russia, which is now in its fifth year, as the U.S. Israeli conflict with Iran raises uncertainty over whether ​Washington will restrict its military supplies.

IN ADVANCED TALKS WITH UAE, QATAR

With President Volodymyr Zelenskiy currently in the Gulf ⁠region, Sybiha said draft accords had been prepared with a number of countries on possible contributions and mutual cooperation, notably ​on unmanned technologies.

“Hopefully during the visit with some countries, these documents will be concluded and finalised,” he said.

Discussions had been ​held with Saudi Arabia - with which Zelenskiy earlier on Friday said he had agreed a deal - Kuwait, Jordan and Oman, but the most advanced talks were with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, Sybiha said.

“Because they are mostly suffering from Iran’s strikes,” he said.

Sybiha said Gulf Arab ​countries had used more than 800 Patriot missiles since the war had started to defend themselves, so they now ​wanted to learn from Ukraine’s experience in shooting down Russian drones and missiles.

He said Kyiv was still trying to determine exactly what assistance Russia ‌was ⁠providing to Iran, but believed it was intelligence and, probably, spare parts and drones, as well as sharing critical combat experience.

WITH TALKS STALLED, FOCUS TURNS TO CHINA

Sybiha, who met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the G7, said Washington’s role in mediating peace talks remained critical, but with efforts seemingly stalled, he suggested it was time to try to make ​a new push to get China ​to play a greater ⁠role in negotiations.

“We will welcome any efforts of Chinese colleagues to end this war, to achieve a ceasefire, and probably they have this potential to influence Russia,” he said.

China has ​close economic and security ties to Russia and has refused to join international sanctions ​on Moscow over ⁠its invasion of Ukraine.

It has not shown any real appetite to get directly involved in peace talks, but also remains Ukraine’s top trade partner.

Sybiha said he had been invited to go to China.

“We are working through diplomatic channels to settle the day, ⁠to fix ​the day,” he said, adding he was hopeful it would happen in ​the next two months.

The U.S. and European governments have repeatedly expressed concern at Chinese companies supplying Russian arms makers, and have imposed sanctions on some ​of them.

Beijing has denied providing any military technology to Russia.

Reporting by John Irish; editing by Daniel Flynn and Alex Richardson

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