While Iranian troops haven’t flown the drones themselves, their technical support has been critical for Russian soldiers unfamiliar with the technology…reports Asian Lite News
Iranian military personnel are on the ground in Crimea training Russian troops on how to pilot drones, including those that have struck Ukrainian positions in recent days, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Thursday.
While Iranian troops haven’t flown the drones themselves, their technical support has been critical for Russian soldiers unfamiliar with the technology, Kirby said. There are a “relatively small number” of Iranians assisting in Crimea, he added.
“The fact is this: Tehran is now directly engaged on the ground and through the provision of weapons that … are killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure in Ukraine,” he said. The Daily Mirror first reported the Iranian deployment.
Kirby also warned that Russia will likely receive more shipments of drones from Iran, and that Moscow may seek to acquire “advanced conventional weapons, such as surface-to-surface missiles,” confirming a weekend report by The Washington Post.
The comments come hours after Kirby shared his advice to fighting-age men in Russia, urging them to “not fight” in Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
“They should not fight, not agree to fight in Ukraine. And many of them have obviously left the country and some of the others are bravely resisting efforts to be mobilized and to be called up inside their own country,” Kirby said on CNN.
Putin has ramped up efforts to escalate the war in recent days, and on Wednesday he declared martial law in four regions of Ukraine that Moscow illegally annexed. Kirby said the new security measures from Putin show that he “has dwindling options available to him” and that there is “increasing popular discontent” about the war and the way he’s fighting it.
While Putin’s invasion of Ukraine remains popular in Russia, hundreds of thousands of citizens fled the country after the Russian president announced on Sept. 21 plans to draft at least 300,000 additional soldiers. Other people hoping to avoid the draft are hunkering down and avoiding public places as they hear of widespread reports of forced conscriptions, even for men who are above the age limit for mobilization.
Kirby said on Thursday that Russia is putting mobilized reservists who have just been called up into the fight “with maybe a week’s worth of training and some small arms and ammunition and that is it.”
“They are being thrown into a fight against an enemy, though smaller, is much better equipped, much higher morale, better leadership, better command and control. And it’s not a place where a lot of Russian soldiers want to be right now,” Kirby said.
Russia warns UN against probe
Russia has warned the United Nations against investigating the use of Iranian drones in Ukraine.
Earlier, Ukraine said Iran broke a UN Security Council embargo on the transfer of drones with a 300-kilometre range. Kyiv invited UN specialists to examine the debris from Shahed-136 drones that were being deployed by Russia to attack civilian targets.
The discussions occurred during the closed-door Security Council meeting called by the US, France, and the UK in response to the deployment of Iranian-made drones to Russia. The trio of permanent members of the UN Security Council said Russia had breached the UN arms embargo on Iran.
On Monday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that the city was struck by”kamikaze drones” that killed people and damaged several residential buildings.
Both the European Union and United States said they have proof that Iranian Shahed-136s low-cost drones, that explode on landing, are behind at least five deaths in Kyiv on Monday.
In a little more than a month, Ukraine claims to have shot down more than 220 Iranian drones, and images have surfaced that appear to establish an Iranian connection.
Ukraine has already moved to sever diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic.
The US expressed its concerns regarding Russia’s acquisition of the drones from Iran. According to the US, the drones violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231 of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It contends that Resolution 2231 bars any transfers that could benefit nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, “We now have abundant evidence that these UAVs are being used to strike Ukrainian civilians and critical civilian infrastructure.” He added, “We will not hesitate to use our sanctions and other appropriate tools on all involved in these transfers,”
James Kariuki, Britain’s deputy U.N. ambassador, tweeted Tehran’s denial that Russia is using Iranian drones to target civilians in Ukraine “doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.”
Russia said that the UN does not have the mandate to investigate its use of drones in Ukraine calling it “absolutely unprofessional and political.”
“The UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) used by the Russian army in Ukraine are manufactured in Russia,” Russian diplomat Dmitry Polyanskiy said, criticizing the “baseless accusations and conspiracy theories. I would recommend that you do not underestimate the technological capabilities of the Russian drone industry.”
Polyanskiy said the UN probe would force Russia to reassess their collaboration with the international organization, where it has a permanent seat on the Security Council.
Iran has already denied any drone transfers to Russia calling the claims “unfounded and unsubstantiated”
Iran’s UN envoy, Amir Saeid Iravani, said that Tehran wanted a “peaceful resolution” of the war.
