Report from Ukraine by Dmitri Kovalevich, re-published here in The Multiplural World, March 15, 2026
(Dmitri Kovalevich is the special correspondent in Ukraine for Al Mayadeen English, where this report was first published on March 14, 2026. He writes two reports per month for the publication.)
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.
