By Kim Barker | The New York Times

NEAR KHARKIV, Ukraine -As the war in Iran spirals beyond its borders, Ukraine has sent interceptor drones and a team of drone experts to protect U.S. military bases in Jordan, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with The New York Times.

The United States made the request for help Thursday and the Ukrainian team left the next day, Zelenskyy said. It was expected to arrive in the Middle East soon.

"We reacted immediately," Zelenskyy said Friday evening during a train ride from eastern Ukraine to the capital, Kyiv. "I said, 'Yes, of course, we will send our experts.' "

The White House did not respond to a question about whether the United States had asked for Ukraine's help.

The U.S.-Israeli war in Iran risks redirecting world attention away from the war in Ukraine. But it also has given Ukraine an opportunity to use its hard-won expertise and advanced technology on a new front. The country has eagerly offered to help

U.S. forces and their Middle Eastern allies defend against the sorts of Iranian-designed attack drones that Russia has been using in Ukraine for years.

Ukraine is hoping to score points with the United States in American-brokered peace talks. The relationship remains fraught. On Thursday, President Donald Trump again said he viewed Zelenskyy as more of an impediment to a peace deal than Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion. Trump has been much more solicitous of Moscow than his predecessor was.