Ukraine, UAE agree to cooperate on defence, Zelenskiy says

KYIV, March 28 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday he had met with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and that they had agreed to cooperate in the field of security and defence.

“Our teams will finalise the details,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app.

The two leaders tackled opportunities to advance bilateral cooperation under the Comprehensive Economic Agreement between the two sides, the Emirati state news agency WAM said, without further elaborating.

They also discussed the security developments and military escalation in the region and their impact on international navigation and the global economy, WAM added.

Zelenskiy arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday where the Saudi defence ministry signed an agreement on defence cooperation with Ukraine’s defence ministry.

The Ukrainian leader also arrived in Qatar on Saturday.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Friday Kyiv was close to clinching several security agreements, including with the UAE and Qatar, to counter Iranian attacks.

(Reporting by Olena Harmash and Jaidaa Taha; Editing by Jan Harvey)