Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that his country could offer protection to Europe in a similar fashion to the way in which the United Kingdom’s sovereign bases in Cyprus operate.

“British military bases in Cyprus. This is what Ukraine’s security proposal could look like. Our experts would place interception teams, and set up radars and acoustic coverage, and this would all work,” he said during a visit to the UK’s parliament alongside Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte.

In this, he was referring to the surveillance and signals intelligence infrastructure present in Cyprus’ two sovereign base areas.

He added that if Iran launched “a large-scale attack, similar to Russian attacks”, Ukraine “would guarantee protection”.

“This is the kind of reinforcement we offer, and it soon may be needed across Europe,” he said.

He was also keen to highlight advancements in drone-based warfare, which accelerated following the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022 and have become central to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“Drones can be launched not only from land, but also from ships at sea. Such long-range strikes are no longer rare. Different countries already use them, and since European seas still have many tankers from Russia’s shadow fleet, launching drones from such vessels is no longer something unexpected,” he said.

Later in his speech, he said that Ukraine has now “learned how to defend itself against Iranian ‘Shahed’ drones” – the same type which struck Cyprus’ Akrotiri air force base on March 2, while also making reference to the fact that those Shahed drones “contain Russian components”.

On this front, it has been widely reported that the drone which struck Cyprus had been fitted with a Russian Kometa-B navigation system, which was developed with the aim of protecting Russian drones from jamming technology, offering a safeguard against Ukrainian-built jamming systems and ensuring that the drones hit their intended targets.

He concluded his speech by saying that Europe “must go further” and “must build modern defence forces together”.

“In Europe, we must produce all levels of air defence – against drones, and all types of missiles, including ballistic. Our seas must be secure, and our forces in other seas must be protected from all threats,” he said.

He added that Europe “not only has this potential”, but it also has “a mission”.

This mission, he said, is “to protect not only itself, but what it believes in”.

“We believe in people, in their rights and freedom. We believe in culture, and we want nations to live in real peace, strong peace, and communities in respect. Together, Europe is a global force – one the world cannot do without – and that no one can stand against. We must grow this strength, and we can do it, and we must direct it, and we can,” he said.