Iranian Shahed drones overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses – FT
Iranian-designed Shahed drones now manufactured in Russia are overwhelming Ukraine’s air defenses and increasing the success rate of attacks, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
Iranian-designed Shahed drones now manufactured in Russia are overwhelming Ukraine’s air defenses and increasing the success rate of attacks, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
According to data released by Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia is intensifying drone swarm attacks while limiting their targets to two or three locations.
On Monday alone, Ukraine reported what it described as 200 Shahed-type strikes on its official Telegram channel.
The Shahed-136 drone was originally designed and manufactured in Iran. Russia has begun producing the drone domestically, giving it a Russian name and modifying it for greater speed to evade air defenses.
Russian-manufactured Shahed drones are called Geran, or Geranium, in keeping with a Soviet-era tradition of naming weapons after flowers.
Russia often uses Shahed drones in combination with ballistic missile barrages to overwhelm Ukrainian air defense systems.
Ukraine counters drone attacks through electronic jamming of guidance systems and the use of anti-aircraft guns.
Financial Times analysis shows that the likelihood of Shahed drones hitting their targets has tripled over the past month.
The United States has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Iran’s drone production and procurement networks.
In February, the Trump administration sanctioned six entities in Hong Kong and mainland China for facilitating the acquisition of components used in Iranian armed drones.
Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted Tehran's ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali as saying that that the meeting between the defense chiefs focused on “reinforcing bilateral cooperation in the defense and military fields.”
The meeting comes after Moscow, an ally of Tehran, appeared to offer no material support to Iran during its 12-day conflict with Israel last month.
Iran and Russia began their three days of joint drills aimed at boosting maritime safety and regional cooperation, Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Tasnim News reported.
According to Tasnim, a Russian Navy vessel entered Iranian waters on Monday to take part in the exercise, codenamed CASAREX 2025, or
In May, Iran’s parliament approved a 20-year strategic partnership with Russia, signaling a further tightening of ties between the two countries in both defense and economic matters.
The agreement, initially signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on January 17, was ratified by Russia’s State Duma in April.
While the pact does not include a mutual defense clause, it commits both nations to enhanced military-technical cooperation, joint military exercises, and coordination in the face of what they define as shared security threats.
The launch of the joint military exercise follows a high-level political meeting held a day earlier in which Ali Larijani, advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.
Larijani briefed Putin on the Iranian officials’ view regarding the crisis in the Middle East and developments related to Iran’s nuclear program, Russian state news agency RIA said citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
