Kyiv, 18 April (H.S.):

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered Ukraine's battle-hardened naval proficiency on Friday, to a 50-nation video conference co-chaired by France and Britain, advocating collaborative demining and escort operations in the Strait of Hormuz.

Addressing the virtual summit on navigation freedom, he asserted that Kyiv's four-year Black Sea odyssey repelling Russia's blockade through merchant escorts, drone defenses, and coordinated interdictions—equips it uniquely to forestall global chokepoint vulnerabilities.

Black Sea Lessons for Hormuz Stability

Zelenskyy cautioned that Hormuz resolutions would calibrate aggressors' calculus across straits worldwide, urging specific and clear mandates to evade Gaza's protracted quagmire: Decisions made regarding Hormuz now will determine how other aggressive actors perceive the possibility of creating problems in other straits and on other fronts.

He spotlighted Ukraine's dispatch of drone-defense specialists to Middle Eastern allies like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE—now extending to Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain—positioning his nation as a pivotal contributor to multinational mine clearance and aerial threat mitigation.

This overture dovetails with Zelenskyy's concurrent Telegram missive decrying Russian infrastructure buildup near Belarus, signaling Moscow's ploy to rekindle northern incursions via artillery entrenchments and roadworks, per intelligence from commander Oleksandr Syrskyi.

By proffering Hormuz aid, Zelenskyy not only burnishes Ukraine's indispensable global role amid its own attritional war grappling over 700 recent Russian missiles and drones but also leverages wartime acumen to court security pacts, fortifying Kyiv's diplomatic flank as Trump pivots to Iran negotiations.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar