Depiction of how Ukraine, like "Israel" before it, has been transformed into an outpost of Western imperialism. Photo: Zeinab al-Hajj/Al Mayadeen English.
By Dmitri Kovalevich – Mar 14, 2026
The Iranian people are currently fighting off an imperialist aggressor, not only for the sake of their own country but also for Ukrainians, who are themselves targets of similar Western aggression and predatory objectives.
Ukraine, like “Israel” before it, has been transformed into an outpost of Western imperialism. The two wars these two are waging—one against the Russian Federation, the other against Iran–are similar and interconnected in so many ways. The common goal of each war is to preserve and even enhance Western hegemony by waging warfare against countries that dare to rebel against the ‘rules-based international order’ of the Western powers.
Former advisor to the Ukrainian president’s office, Alexei Arestovich, says outright that the war on Iran is being used to demonstrate what happens to those who oppose the rotten Western alliance.
Eduard Basurin, former army spokesman of the Donetsk People’s Republic, is convinced that the treacherous war against Iran is directly linked to anti-Russian plans by the US empire. “By hook and by crook, as they say, the U.S. is pressing ahead with strategic plans to create a ‘firewall’ around Russia and drive us into economic isolation.”
Ukrainian political scientist and journalist Oleg Yasinsky, who lives in Chile, reminds that everyone in the world should be aware that the war against Iran is already a global war and is directed not only against Iran. “The question is whether all the other victims that will inevitably be subjected to what Iran is facing will take action or instead patiently await their turn,” he says.
Yasinsky is convinced that this war is not a demonstration of strength but, rather, of the extreme weakness of a system unable to retain its power and hold over the world except by forceful means.
The Ukrainian underground communist group Borotba writes that the goal of the US attack against Iran is to destroy all other forms of communal life on the planet except for those which are subordinate to the Western powers, be they liberal or conservative.“That is why the attack against Iran is an attack against all of us, it is an attack on all of humanity,” the group says.
The aggression by the US and “Israel” against sovereign Iran cannot fail to affect Ukraine itself, and in a very big way. That’s because any international conflict is traditionally perceived in ruling circles in Ukraine with undisguised jealousy, deemed to distract attention from the situation in Ukraine and from the antics of its comedian-and-actor-turned-president, Volodomyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian authorities regularly engage in public relations promotions using social media and ‘emotional diplomacy’ (hysteria), fearing, above all, a loss of attention from the foreign public.
From the beginning, Ukrainian authorities have hoped for a quick end to the war against Iran. But after ten days, it has become clear that this war will not be easy for the Trump regime in Washington. Zelensky and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry have reflexively supported the aggression by the US and “Israel”. It was therefore no coincidence that at the Munich Security Conference last month, Zelensky met with the heir to the long-departed Iranian monarch Shah Pahlavi, effectively endorsing the overthrow of the Iranian government.
In Iran, the government is well aware of Zelensky’s positioning and his role in serving Western interests. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated in Late January, “He has been stealing from American and European taxpayers for a long time, lining the pockets of his corrupt generals and countering what he calls illegal aggression [by Russia] in violation of the UN Charter. At the same time, he openly and shamelessly calls for illegal U.S. aggression against Iran, which also violates the same UN Charter. The world is fed up with confused clowns such as Mr. Zelensky.”
Pro-Ukrainian analysts at home and abroad are unanimous in lamenting that Ukraine is unlikely to receive anytime soon the additional air defense missiles that Zelensky has been desperately demanding every time he meets with Western leaders. Washington is no longer transferring such weapons directly to Kiev but is selling them to NATO countries and expecting them, in turn, to deliver the arms to Kiev.
There is particular discontent at the moment in Ukraine over the surge in oil prices brought on by the war in Iran. Rises in oil and gas prices, of course, always happen when there is military conflict in the Middle East. This indirectly increases Russia’s revenues from trade in oil and refined petroleum products. Zelensky tirelessly repeats that his main wartime goal is to exhaust economic capacity in Russia and thereby restrict its ability to wage war by striking against Russia’s oil refineries, pipelines, and ocean-going transport.
Political scientist Oleg Saakyan tells the journal Novoye Vremya (which is funded by liberals in Europe) that the operation against Iran offers Ukraine certain strategic opportunities. But he also says that in the here and now, it also presents a number of threats.
“The operational and tactical threats include shortages of certain types of weapons, which are already in short supply for us and being felt. Then there are temporary fluctuations in oil prices, from which Russia may benefit in the short term,” he says. In the future, he hopes for a coup in Iran which would deprive Russia of an ally and, hopefully (in his view), destabilize the economic and military situation in the southern regions of Russia.
Political analyst Taras Zagorodniy shares this hope. In an interview for Ukrainian television channel 24TV, he draws attention to the energy situation. According to him, the US is seeking to strengthen its control over Iranian oil flows, which would then place additional pressure on Russian exports. If Iranian oil enters global markets under US control, this will make it more difficult for Russia to maintain its market positions, the political scientist says.
But this can only happen if the Iranian government is overthrown and a new government subservient to the West replaces it. Such an outcome is not at all evident.
Zagorodniy also notes that military strikes against Tehran have not only hit this Russian ally but have also hit the loose configuration of cooperation between Iran, Moscow, and Beijing. A large part of Iran’s oil has traditionally been sold to China, which, in turn, is a vital economic partner for Russia.
Since the beginning of March, due to the Western aggression against Iran, the prices of gasoline and diesel fuel supplies, so vital to wage modern warfare, have skyrocketed in Ukraine. Prices for all goods have risen, pressuring a Ukrainian currency already on the verge of collapse.
In addition, major operators are preparing for fuel shortages and are therefore limiting sales, which now threatens the approaching spring sowing season in Ukraine. The war against Iran has also driven up fertilizer prices. All of this leads Ukrainian analysts to predict a 30% increase by autumn in the cost of growing and selling grain.
Maksym Buzhansky, a deputy from Zelensky’s party, cynically writes that the only alternative to rising gasoline prices is to “finish off Iran.”
Due to the eruption of war in the Middle East, previously planned negotiations in Abu Dhabi over the war in Ukraine will not take place. In any event, the countless rounds of talks over Ukraine with little change in position, except for the worse, were always little more than occasions to appease the Trump regime.
Former Ukrainian legislator Alexander Dubinsky, now serving prison time for treason, believes that negotiations over Ukraine could, in principle, be postponed until the end of the war on Iran, because the war’s outcome and duration will influence the disposition of the parties involved. He writes, “The time for negotiations is when the U.S. operation in Iran is finished, after which both Russia and the U.S. will only have options for escalation to resolve the Ukrainian issue. Perhaps this is exactly what Zelensky is waiting for, hoping to prolong his war and prolong his stay at the geopolitical table of Ukraine while holding a maximum of cards.”
On March 7, the online Ukraine news publication Strana asserted that the war in Iran will be decisive for a new, US imperial strategy, in which it maintains its global dominance by dismantling a world order based on ‘international law’ and replacing it with ‘might makes right’.
On Monday, March 2, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer effectively called upon Zelensky and the governing regime he heads to join the war against Iran. “We will bring in experts from Ukraine along with our own specialists to help our partners in the Persian Gulf shoot down Iranian drones,” Starmer said. In January 2025, the two governments signed a ‘100-year partnership agreement’ which emphasizes military cooperation.
Economist Alexei Kushch notes that Starmer’s request to send Ukrainian military personnel to help shoot down Iranian drones indicates that the situation in Iran is far from being the military triumph being portrayed by Western media.
Former spokesman for the neo-Nazi ‘Right Sector’ paramilitary group in Ukraine, the Israeli-Ukrainian politician Borislav Bereza, is convinced that this is not about the drone operators themselves, but about the UK’s desire to bring the Ukrainian issue to the fore. As reported on Telegram on March 2, Bereza says, “This is not only about the experience we can offer, also an attempt to keep the Ukraine in the spotlight, given that all attention is currently focused on Iran. Starmer is helping us so we don’t disappear from the global information space.”
Some Ukrainian analysts also suggest that the British are drawing Ukraine into the war in Iran in order to convince Washington to maintain its assistance to the governing regime led by Zelensky. In other words, the people of Kiev, Odesa, or elsewhere in Ukraine are asked to convince Trump that he needs Zelensky by continuing to shed their blood in a doomed war effort.
Oleg Soskin, an economics analyst and former advisor to several post-Soviet Ukrainian presidents, now living abroad, acknowledges that Iran has removed Ukraine from the international agenda, as reported by Politinavigator. “In essence, the information model has already changed. This is an irreversible change; in this new model, there is absolutely no place for Ukraine or Zelensky. Ukraine is no longer in the information field, and no one is interested in Zelensky anymore.”
Soskin emphasizes that after the military strikes against the French military base in Abu Dhabi and two strikes against British bases on Cyprus, Kiev's European allies are shifting their focus away from Ukraine. “Frankly, I didn’t expect the conflict in Iran to become this large.”
But many Ukrainian leaders remain wedded to the idea that if they lead Ukraine to participate in the war against Iran, Ukraine will regain attention and a larger weapons supply. This is what Zelensky and his governing clique are hoping to gain by sending their military to fight in the Middle East, even though at the present time, the Ukrainian army is unable to hold its own lines against the Russian Federation. The army is in constant retreat due to acute shortages of manpower.
These days, it is rare to find a representative of Zelensky's regime who is not rote-repeating the Western accusations against Iran. The entire Ukrainian leadership is dreaming of a quick defeat of Iran because this would indirectly weaken Russia, China, and vulnerable countries of the Global South. But the Iranian government and people are standing their ground, with dignity. They are angering and frustrating all those in Ukraine who have long since sold out their country to the Western powers.
The Iranian people are currently fighting off an imperialist aggressor, not only for the sake of their own country but also for Ukrainians, who are themselves targets of similar Western aggression and predatory objectives.
Dmitri Kovalevich
Dmitri Kovalevich is a Ukrainian Communist, member of the organization Borotba. He is the special correspondent in Ukraine for Al Mayadeen English.
