President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukrainian military experts downed Iranian drones in several Middle East countries.
Kiev dispatched anti-drone personnel to at least four countries in the Middle East after US and Israeli strikes on Iran sparked a wave of retaliatory drone attacks.
"We demonstrated to some countries how to work with interceptors. Did we destroy them? Yes, we did. Did we do it in just one country? No, in several," Zelenskyy told journalists in comments released under embargo on Friday.
"This was not about a training mission or exercises, but about support in building a modern air defence system that can actually work. Yes, they were shooting down Shaheds," he said, referring to the Iranian drones.
Zelenskyy had said earlier this week that the Ukrainian drone units would remain in the region even after the United States and Iran agreed on a two-week ceasefire.
"In return for our support and expertise, we will receive various things. In some cases, it involves interceptors to protect our energy infrastructure; in others, there are financial arrangements," he said, adding Ukraine could also receive oil supplies.
Zelenskyy urges Russian oil sanctions to be reimposed after Iran ceasefire
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy also said he wants energy sanctions to be reinstated on Russia following a US&Israel-Iran ceasefire agreement that should reopen the Strait of Hormuz waterway, vital to global energy supplies.
"Now a ceasefire is beginning in the Middle East and the Gulf. And I am waiting for sanctions on Russian oil to be fully reimposed, as they were before," Zelenskyy said.
The United States eased some oil sanctions on Russia last month to tackle surging energy costs caused by the Middle East war. Kiev and its allies warned the move could help fund the Russia-Ukraine war.
The US waiver allowed countries to purchase Russian oil that was already at sea until April 11.
The Kremlin welcomed the decision by urging the United States to go further.
Zelenskyy added that Ukrainian partners had asked Kiev to halt long-range strikes on Russian oil sites against the backdrop of price hikes linked to the Iran war.
"I won't say who asked us to do this. But partners did ask, it's a fact. They asked at different levels, from political to military leadership," Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine has intensified its retaliatory attacks on Russian infrastructure including refineries, oil depots and ports in the past weeks, repeatedly striking the major Baltic ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk.
Both Ukraine and Russia have been targeting each others' energy sites since February 2022, sparking the bloodiest war in Europe since World War II.
The two sides have agreed to cease fire for the Orthodox Easter holidays this weekend, a rare 32-hour halt in fighting.
