Ukraine expands drone diplomacy in Europe, signs tech-sharing agreement with Latvia

Ukraine has agreed to share its drone technology with European nations. On Tuesday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs signed a drone cooperation agreement on the sidelines of a summit between Ukraine and the Nordic-Baltic states in the Estonian capital, Tallinn.

The Ukrainian President met the Prime Ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway shortly after returning from London, where he held talks with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany. The European leaders said they were prepared to support ceasefire negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, Reuters reported.

Speaking about the agreement, Zelenskyy said in a post on X that the deal would strengthen the defence capabilities of both countries.

“These are concrete things to strengthen our joint defense and co-production, and, importantly, this also means Ukraine’s expertise and experience helping to strengthen our partners,” he said.

Details of the agreement have been not been made public so far.

During a joint press conference, Kulbergs said the partnership would provide Latvia with Ukrainian technological expertise and opportunities for joint production.

“We need to protect our skies, and nobody knows how to do that better than Ukraine,” he said.

In a separate post on X after the Tallinn summit, Kulbergs said the agreement envisages the “immediate” deployment of Ukrainian anti-drone combat specialists to Latvia.

“Its goal is to adopt Ukraine’s anti-drone expertise, technological solutions, and training from Ukrainian drone warriors in Latvia, as well as to develop joint production in the military industries of Latvia and Ukraine,” he wrote.

Rustem Umerov, chairman of Ukraine’s defence and security council, said Latvia had become the sixth country to join Kyiv’s drone cooperation initiative.

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The Baltic countries, all members of NATO, have reported several instances of drones entering their airspace in recent weeks as Ukraine has intensified long-range attacks on Russian energy facilities. Ukraine has attributed the incidents to Russian electronic warfare systems interfering with drone flight paths.

Drone deal with Saudi

Since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, Zelenskyy has sought to leverage Ukraine’s expertise in drone warfare into a series of diplomatic and defence cooperation agreements during visits across Europe and the Middle East.

In March 2026, he signed a similar drone cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia. Zelenskyy said Saudi Arabia faced ballistic missile and drone threats from Iran similar to those Ukraine had been combating from Russia for more than four years.

“We are ready to share our expertise and systems with Saudi Arabia and to work together to strengthen the protection of lives,” he said in a post on X.

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Zelenskyy added that, in return, Ukraine would seek Saudi assistance in defending itself against the ongoing Russian invasion.

More details here...