Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Saudi Arabia for security talks, marking his second visit to the region since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, now under cease-fire, as Russia continued to pound Ukraine with deadly strikes.
"Today, we are advancing our agreements with Saudi Arabia in the areas of security, energy, and infrastructure. It is important that the strengthening is mutual," Zelenskyy wrote on X on April 24.
The Ukrainian president's visit comes almost a month after Kyiv and Riyadh signed a defense cooperation agreement, as waves of relentless retaliatory strikes from Iran targeted civilian and energy infrastructure across the Middle East.
Having previously secured a number of bilateral agreements with European countries -- such as joint drone construction with Germany -- since the first Shahed drones struck the Gulf, Kyiv has sought to bring its battle-proven technologies and military expertise to the region.
Shahed drone technology, which originated in Iran, has long become central to Russia's domestic drone production, as Tehran supplied Moscow with military equipment and know-how during the first years of its full-scale war against Ukraine.
Russia has since often launched around 100 Shahed-type drones at Ukraine at a time. In response, Kyiv has developed cost-effective interceptor drones, saying the technology allows it to cut off about 90 percent of incoming drones.
Both Tehran and Moscow have been publicly skeptical about how useful Kyiv's support to the Gulf countries would be, with Iranian envoy to Ukraine calling it "nothing more than a joke and a showy gesture."
Separately, US President Donald Trump said Zelenskyy was the last person he would ask for help in Washington's military efforts in Iran, despite reports that the United States had held talks with Ukraine on the matter.
Days prior to Zelenskyy's latest visit to the Saudi Arabia, Reuters cited five sources familiar with the matter, saying the United States had introduced Ukrainian drones at its key air base in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, on its own front lines, Ukraine has continued to suffer deadly Russian air attacks, which have occurred almost every day over the past week.
According to regional Governor Serhiy Lysak, a married couple, both 75 years old, were killed in the attack on the Ukraine's major southern port city of Odesa on April 24, adding 17 other people were injured.
A local Odesa resident told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that she was covered in blood after an explosion blew out a window and its frame in her apartment.
"The explosion blew a window and a frame right onto me…. Everything was falling. I was frightened," she said at the scene of the aftermath.
Separately, Moscow and Kyiv reported that 193 Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war were swapped on April 24. Zelenskyy said those who returned to Ukraine included soldiers, border guards, and police who had been injured or faced criminal charges in Russia.
In his comment to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, the country's ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said those returned home had been held in Russia's Chechnya region.
Lubinets added that most of them had not been confirmed as prisoners by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and that one of them had been considered missing.
