Zelenskyy and Starmer urge continuing support for Ukraine against Russia as Iran war steals focus

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Street in London, Tuesday, March 17, 2026.(AP Photo/Thomas Krych)

LONDON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia and Iran “brothers in hatred” on Tuesday as he sought support from U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a time when the Iran war has robbed momentum from U.S.-brokered talks to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s allies not to forget about his country, and suggested the U.S. and others should make use of Ukraine’s anti-drone technology during a Middle East war that has also revived Russia’s ailing economy through increased oil revenue and could soon limit Kyiv’s access to vital Western air defence systems, which are needed in the Middle East.

“The regimes in Russia and Iran are brothers in hatred and that is why they are brothers in weapons,” Zelenskyy told lawmakers in Britain’s Parliament. “And we want regimes built on hatred to never, never win in anything.”

Holding talks with Zelenskyy at 10 Downing Street, 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 came days after the U.S. temporarily waived some Russian oil sanctions in a bid to ease pressure on global supplies triggered by the war in the Middle East, which was sparked by the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran starting Feb. 28.

Zelenskyy and some other European leaders criticized Washington’s move to ease sanctions, saying it would provide a windfall for Moscow to keep up its attacks on Ukraine.

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. He told them that other countries could learn from Ukraine’s agile adoption of technology, including drones and AI, for defence.

“The fact we got through this winter, which Russia tried to make deadly for all our families, shows that our solutions work,” Zelenskyy said.

European leaders underline risks of Iran war for Ukraine

Zelenskyy said the London talks, also attended by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. would assess energy security, after Russia hammered Ukraine’s power grid over the winter, and the battlefield situation.

In Brussels, the European Union’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas noted Tuesday that Russia stands to gain from higher energy prices and the rerouting of advanced Western air defence systems from Ukraine to the Middle East.

But, she said, Ukraine “remains Europe’s top security priority and attention for Ukraine will 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. The Russian economy was actually doing extremely badly a couple of weeks back. Now it’s bouncing back.”

Ukraine losing out with Middle East conflict, analysts say

U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to secure a peace deal that ends Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II and has rattled the continent’s leaders, who reckon that Russia could pose a credible security threat to the European Union by the end of the decade.

But the U.S.-mediated talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv, which so far have yielded no significant progress on key issues, are on hold during the Middle East conflict.

Ukraine is the “ultimate loser” from the war with Iran, said Ed Arnold, Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. He said the war is draining stocks of American air defence missiles that are crucial for Kyiv to shoot down Russian missiles and is diverting Washington’s attention from Russia-Ukraine negotiations.

François Heisbourg, special adviser at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, said it is important for Ukraine to secure deals with Gulf states for advanced air defence systems in exchange for Ukrainian anti-drone expertise and technology.

U.K. and Ukraine eye drone deal that Trump spurned

Ukraine has become one of the world’s leading producers of high-tech, battle-tested drone interceptors.

Zelensky stressed that Ukraine’s experience can be an asset in the Middle East war. He said more than 200 Ukrainian military experts are in the region to share expertise in defeating Iranian drones, which have been used in vast numbers by Russia. Ukraine has developed cheap and effective ways to shoot them down, he said, showing off an iPad-controlled defence system used by Ukraine’s military.

Trump has spurned Zelenskyy’s offer of help for the United States and its Persian Gulf partners in fighting Iranian drones.

British officials say Russia and Iran are collaborating on drone technology and tactics, and argued that Europe must also raise its game when it comes to defence technology.

During Zelenskyy’s visit, the U.K. and Ukraine signed a deal combining “Ukraine’s expertise and the U.K.’s industrial base to manufacture and supply drones and innovative capabilities.” Britain is also funding an “AI Center of Excellence” in conjunction with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence.

Ukraine counterattacks on front line, Kremlin calls resistance ‘futile’

Russia’s Defence Ministry said Tuesday that its air defences intercepted and destroyed 206 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian regions, the annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Azov Sea. A total of 40 intercepted drones were flying toward Moscow, the ministry said.

Asked about an increase in Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow over the past few days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that authorities in Kyiv were “continuing absolutely futile resistance.”

Zelenskyy said late Monday that counterattacks by Ukrainian forces at eastern and southern points along the front line have wrecked Moscow’s plans for a March offensive.

His comments couldn’t be independently verified, but the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Monday that Ukrainian counterattacks “are likely constraining” some Russian offensive operations.

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press

Associated Press writers Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine and Emma Burrows in London contributed to this report.