Zelenskyy tells UK lawmakers Russia and Iran are “brothers in weapons”

Zelenskyy, visiting London amid concerns that the Iran conflict is pulling focus and resources away from the Russia-Ukraine war, urged British lawmakers to keep backing Ukraine even as Western attention and military supplies are strained. Speaking to Parliament, the Ukrainian president described Russia and Iran as partners in arms and said regimes built on hatred must not win, adding that Ukrainian solutions for surviving the winter — including drone and other defense measures — have proven effective.

At 10 Downing Street, Zelenskyy held talks with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, where Starmer said Russian President Vladimir Putin “can’t be the one who benefits from the conflict in Iran, whether that’s oil prices or the dropping of sanctions.” The meeting also included NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, with officials using the London visit to assess both the battlefield situation and broader risks to energy security linked to Russia’s campaign against Ukraine’s infrastructure.

Zelenskyy’s remarks to British lawmakers came as U.S.-brokered efforts to end Russia’s invasion were reported to be losing momentum during the Middle East conflict. The Associated Press said the diplomacy push has been on hold while fighting in the region escalates, and European leaders suggested the spillover could affect how quickly Ukraine receives air-defense systems needed for its defense against Russian attacks.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday that Russia stands to gain from higher energy prices and from the rerouting of advanced Western air-defense systems away from Ukraine to the Middle East. She also said Ukraine “remains Europe’s top security priority” and that attention for Ukraine would not be allowed to fizzle out.

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said the Iran war is bad for Ukraine “mainly because of the oil price which feeds the Russian war machinery.” He added that he believed Russia’s economy was doing extremely badly in the weeks before then, and he said it later began bouncing back, reflecting how energy markets and sanctions decisions can quickly influence the wider conflict.

Analysts cited by the Associated Press said the Iran conflict was leaving Ukraine as the “ultimate loser” as the war with Iran drains American stocks of air-defense missiles important for Kyiv and diverts U.S. attention from negotiations with Moscow. Ed Arnold of the Royal United Services Institute said the conflict was draining supplies, while François Heisbourg, special adviser at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, said Ukraine needed arrangements with Gulf states for advanced air-defense systems in exchange for Ukrainian anti-drone expertise.

Zelenskyy also used the London setting to argue for defense cooperation that leverages Ukraine’s drone-interception experience in the Middle East. He said more than 200 Ukrainian military experts are in the region to share expertise in defeating Iranian drones used in vast numbers by Russia, and he displayed an iPad-controlled defense system used by Ukraine’s military. Zelenskyy also said the U.K. and Ukraine have signed a deal that combines “Ukraine’s expertise and the U.K.’s industrial base to manufacture and supply drones and innovative capabilities,” and that Britain is funding an “AI Center of Excellence” with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

During the trip, Zelenskyy also met with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace before addressing dozens of members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords in Parliament. Earlier in his presentation, he said the fact that Ukraine “got through this winter, which Russia tried to make deadly for all our families, shows that our solutions work.”

The Associated Press report also described fresh fighting and opposing claims from the start of the day. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted and destroyed 206 Ukrainian drones overnight across Russian regions, annexed Crimea and the Azov Sea, saying 40 of the intercepted drones were flying toward Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, responding to questions about Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow, said Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv were “continuing absolutely futile resistance,” and Zelenskyy late Monday said Ukrainian counterattacks along the eastern and southern parts of the front line have wrecked Moscow’s plans for a March offensive, a claim the report said could not be independently verified.