Russia and Iran deny that Iranian “kamikaze” drones are being used in the war in Ukraine

Russia and Iran reject accusations made by Kyiv and Western countries that Iranian Shahed 136 drones that explode on impact are used in the attacks in Ukraine.

The spokesman of the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, told the press on Tuesday that Russia uses domestically manufactured unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and that the question regarding the purchases of Iranian drones should be addressed to the Ministry of Defense, reports the Russian news agency TASS , as well as AFP, Reuters and EFE, quoted by Agerpres.

“No, we do not have such information. The technology that is used is Russian. You know this. He has Russian names. You can address all other questions to the Ministry of Defense. No, we do not have such information“, Peskov replied when asked if Russia has bought or uses Iranian UAVs.

The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

For its part, Iran denies that it supplied Russia with drones to use in Ukraine.

Iran says it has not supplied Russia with weapons

”The news that Iran is supplying drones to Russia has political ambitions and is being spread by Western sources. We have not supplied arms to any of the countries in conflict“, the spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, said on Monday during the weekly press conference, quoted by Reuters.

”The Islamic Republic of Iran categorically rejects and strongly condemns the baseless and unproven claims that it has sold unmanned aerial vehicles for use in the conflict in Ukraine“, the Iranian Embassy in Romania also stated in a press release on Tuesday. This assures that the government in Tehranis ready to constructively engage in joint technical and expertise cooperation to clarify unfounded allegations against Iran”.

”Since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, the Islamic Republic of Iran has adopted a clear, consistent and unwavering position, stressing that all UN member states must fully respect the purposes and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter, as well as international law, including sovereignty , independence, unity and territorial integrity”, it is also said in the press release of the diplomatic representation of Iran in Bucharest.

The US State Department signaled that, according to its assessment, Iranian drones were used in Monday morning’s rush-hour attack on Kiev, and White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre accused Tehran of lying at the time when he stated that Russia did not use Iranian drones in Ukraine.

Kiev has already shown several times photos of Iranian Shahed 136 drones used by Russia, marked in this country with the Russian name Gheran-2, most recently the day before, in another attack on the capital, reports EFE on Tuesday. The wreckage of at least one drone has the Russian name Gheran-2, according to Reuters.

43 suicide drones targeted Kiev

The Ukrainian Air Force announced that Russia attacked Ukrainian territory on Monday with 43 suicide drones, 37 of which were shot down by Kyiv. At least 86% of the destroyed drones were Shahed, the representative of the Air Force Command, Iuri Ihnat, said on television. In addition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky explicitly mentioned the “Iranian” Shahed drones in his usual evening speech on Monday. And his adviser Mihail Podoliak wrote on Twitter that Iran is directly responsible for the death of Ukrainian civilians and called for the tightening of sanctions against this country.

British intelligence said on Tuesday that Russia, in its massive attacks on Ukrainian targets since October 10, used cruise missiles, surface-to-surface anti-aircraft missiles and “Iranian-supplied Shahed 136 single-use unmanned aerial vehicles”. ”It is highly likely that a key objective of this attack campaign is to cause widespread damage to Ukraine’s power distribution network” according to London.