JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Ukraine was forced to become a world leader in drone warfare after being invaded by Russia. Now, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is sending drone teams to help the U.S. and its allies combat the drone weapons being fired by Iran. For more, we're joined by NPR's Greg Myre. Hi there.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.
SUMMERS: So Greg, before we talk about drones specifically, if you could, just bring us up to speed with the latest in the war with Iran.
MYRE: Yeah, the big development is Iran has a new supreme leader. He's Mojtaba Khamenei. He's the 56-year-old son of Iran's former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Day 1 of the war. Now, the younger Khamenei is seen as a hard-liner, very much like his father. He worked in his father's office, but he's not well known. He rarely appeared in public or rarely spoke. So the message from Iran seems to be it wants continuity and will continue fighting back hard. Now, President Trump has described him as unacceptable. And in an interview just recently - or today - he told CBS, I have no message for him, none whatsoever.
SUMMERS: Interesting. So Greg, what do we know about Zelenskyy's plan to help the U.S. and its allies?
MYRE: So he said he received the request from the U.S. last week, and he immediately dispatched teams to the Middle East. He's also spoken with several Gulf Arab leaders. Now, I spoke with Mark Montgomery. He's a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral. He's now with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and he's been going to Ukraine regularly and has seen their drone operations. Here's his advice.
MARK MONTGOMERY: First of all, I'd get them to the Arab countries - to Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar. These countries, you know, they have a way of thanking you afterwards. It could be very fulfilling for Ukraine.
MYRE: So he means that those countries have the money to pay Ukraine back. And also, based on the first 10 days of the war, the most vulnerable places seem to be some of these Gulf countries. They're very close physically to Iran, and they have lots of hard-to-defend civilian sites - apartments, office buildings, hotels and airports.
SUMMERS: And how can these Ukrainian drone teams help defend these places?
MYRE: So, you know, U.S. ships and military bases in the region have air defenses, but they tend to be designed to use big, expensive weapons like missiles to shoot down other big, expensive incoming missiles. And these weapons are limited, and it's just not efficient to use a missile that might cost up to a million dollars or more to shoot down an Iranian drone that costs $50,000 or less. So Ukraine has pioneered a real range of small, cheap interceptor drones. Some of these are small enough, Juana, just hold in your hand, and they're quite effective. And they can cost as little as a thousand dollars apiece.
SUMMERS: So the thinking is that Ukraine's experience with Russian drones can help the U.S. and Gulf states fight off Iranian drones.
MYRE: Yeah, that's right. And when Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago, it was firing drones that it bought from Iran, known as Shaheds. And they fly low and slow, and they're very loud. They're often mocked as having lawnmower engines. And Russia actually needed more than Iran could provide, so Russia bought the technology from Iran and began making its own souped-up version. And Russia added jet engines to make them fly higher and faster and carry larger explosives. Now, Russia sometimes sends hundreds of drones at night to Ukraine, and Ukraine has learned very quickly how to defend against these Russian drones. Here's Mark Montgomery again.
MONTGOMERY: I can think of nothing I'd like to see better than a Ukrainian soldier successfully defending downtown hotels in Dubai. That would be a reminder of just who Ukraine is, just who we are and just who our adversaries should be.
SUMMERS: What is Ukraine hoping to get out of this offer of support?
MYRE: Well, Zelenskyy is very clear. He wants air defense missiles. Ukraine just doesn't have enough of these to guard against the large, powerful Russian missiles. And remember, just a year ago, Zelenskyy and Trump had their big argument in the White House, and Trump told Zelenskyy that you just don't have the cards. And now that arrangement has flipped a little bit.
SUMMERS: NPR's Greg Myre, thanks as always.
MYRE: Sure thing, Juana. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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