War

Ukraine voices support for US-led strikes against Iran

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Ukraine voices support for US-led strikes against Iran
Smoke rises over the city after an Israeli army launches second wave of airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28, 2026. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry reaffirmed the country's support for US-led strikes against Iran, saying on Feb. 28 that "the regime in Tehran had every opportunity to prevent a violent scenario."

The U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran in the early hours of Feb. 28, with U.S. President Donald Trump calling for regime change in the country.

Since the initial attack, Iran has launched retaliatory strikes against neighboring countries in the region which house U.S. military bases.

Leading up to the attack, President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly supported the idea of attacks against the Iranian regime, although he stressed that diplomatic talks were the best way forward.

"The reason for the current events is precisely the violence and arbitrariness of the Iranian regime, in particular the murders and repressions against peaceful protesters, which have become particularly large-scale in recent months," the Foreign Ministry said in its Feb. 28 statement.

The ministry made a distinction between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people, declaring that the Ukrainian government stands by "the Iranian people and their legitimate desire to live in security, freedom and prosperity."

"We wish security, prosperity, and freedom to the Iranian people, as well as stability and prosperity to the Middle East," the statement from the Foreign Minisitry reads.

"We thank everyone in the world who has supported and continues to support the Iranian people in this difficult time."

In its statement, the Foreign Ministry also invoked the Iran-supplied Shahed drones used in thousands of attacks against Ukrainian cities since the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, adding that Tehran and Moscow's wartime alliance was "a gross violation of international law" that threatened global security.

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Kate Tsurkan

Culture Reporter

Kate Tsurkan is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent who writes mostly about culture-related topics. Her newsletter Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan, which focuses specifically on Ukrainian culture, is published weekly by the Kyiv Independent and is partially supported by a generous grant from the Nadia Sophie Seiler Fund. Kate co-translated Oleh Sentsov’s “Diary of a Hunger Striker,” Myroslav Laiuk’s “Bakhmut,” Andriy Lyubka’s “War from the Rear,” and Khrystia Vengryniuk’s “Long Eyes,” among other books. Some of her previous writing and translations have appeared in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harpers, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Apofenie Magazine and, in addition to Ukrainian and Russian, also knows French.

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"The reason for the current events is precisely the violence and arbitrariness of the Iranian regime, in particular the murders and repressions against peaceful protesters, which have become particularly large-scale in recent months," the Foreign Ministry said in its Feb. 28 statement.

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