Russia Sends Iranian Drones To Belarus To Attack Ukraine - Military
The Ukrainian military claimed Saturday that Russia has sent Iranian military drones to Belarus for possible attacks in western or central parts of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military claimed Saturday that Russia has sent Iranian military drones to Belarus for possible attacks in western or central parts of Ukraine.
According to Kyiv Independent, Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces “West” reported that at least 20 Iranian Shahed-136 loitering drones were delivered to the Luninets airfield in Belarus, located around 50 kilometers from Ukraine.
Russia has stepped up attacks by Iranian drones to the interior regions of Ukraine in the past week. Shahed-136 drones are ‘suicide’ unmanned aerial vehicles that are relatively hard to spot and shoot down, although Ukrainian forces have had some success in targeting them in the air.
Some Ukrainian bloggers covering the war expressed concern that the Iranian drones can be used to target Western arms supplies to Ukraine that use land corridors in the west of the country to bring in weapons and supplies.
Iran, a close ally of Russia is under US sanctions for its nuclear program and talks since April 2021 to resolve the issue have failed.
The United States warned in July that Russia was planning to obtain Iranian drones, with its own UAV force not fully capable of performing its war missions.
Several Iranian drones launched from Russian-held territory in Ukraine’s south attacked targets 75km south of Kyev this week. Although some were shot down, the Ukrainian military reported six explosions at a military base in Bila Tserkva.
Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv military administration, said that six explosions 75km south of the city early Wednesday, wounding one in a military base at Bila Tserkva, had been carried out by Iranian-made Shahed 136 delta-wing ‘kamikaze’ drones.
Air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television the drones had been launched from Russian-held territory to the south, with six others shot down. In remarks widely picked up by international media, Ihnat called the threat signaled by the attack “serious,” while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly discussed with commanders the “new types of weapons that the aggressor has begun to use.” Ukrainian officials earlier suggested the drones offer Moscow an easily-assembled, cheap alternative to high-precision missiles.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani had said October 3 that media reports were “baseless” and that Tehran was committed to “active neutrality and opposition to war and the need for a political settlement of the differences between the two sides and away from violence.”
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in July warned Iran had agreed to supply drones to Russia after a visit by commanders to an Iranian air base, although US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said July 29 there were still “no signs of purchase.” Subsequent claims by US officials over Iran supplying drones have been anonymous.
Bombs, lobbyists, and air defenses
Ukraine has lobbied heavily in Washington, including recently sending a troop of female soldiers, and now argues that Russia’s use of Iranian drones justifies the US supplying more advanced weapons, a call echoed by some advocates of Ukraine and commentators.
Despite the Iranian foreign ministry’s insistence that Tehran is neutral in the conflict, its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei praised Vladimir Putin for his “initiative” of invading Ukraine, during their meeting in Tehran on July 19. Iran has long been a “strategic ally” of Russia, having supplied the ground troops in Syria to save President Bashar Assad’s government in the civil war.
Without an effective air-force due to decades of sanctions, Iran has developed domestic drone production, beginning with surveillance in the 1980-88 war with Iraq and progressing into carrying munitions. Some analysts argue Russia’s own development of drones has been hampered by air-force commanders’ preference for piloted airplanes.
Regional leaders in drone production are Israel and Turkey. Ankara has supplied Ukraine since 2019 with the advanced Bayraktar TB-2 while also acting in the current conflict as the main mediator between Moscow and Kiev. Despite being a top-ten global arms exporter and a leader in UAVs, kamikaze drones and precision-guided missiles, Israel has been criticized by Ukraine for not supplying weapons.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in September he was “in shock because I don’t understand why they couldn’t give us air defenses.” Politicians of various hues in Israel, where around 15 percent of voters are Russian-speakers, are loath to undermine good relations with Moscow.
