As the continuing losses of Russian military hardware adds up in Moscow's faltering attempts to hold on to Ukrainian territory, the Russian Army has begun inflicting damage with Iranian-sourced suicide drones.
Russia's Iranian Suicide Drones Unleashed On Ukraine
- By RFE/RL
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A man inspects a fuel storage facility said to have been damaged by a Russian-operated suicide drone strike in Kharkiv on October 6. Authorities claim Iranian-made Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were used in the strike.
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Fragments that Ukrainian authorities consider to be from a Shahed-136 drone were collected from the destroyed fuel storage facility as evidence. Russia has renamed the Iranian weapon the Geran-2. In July, U.S. intelligence officials publicly warned that Tehran intended to send hundreds of bomb-carrying drones to Russia to aid its war on Ukraine.
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A drone believed to be a Shahed-136 is seen in the sky above Ukraine's southern port city of Odesa on September 23. Kyiv said that one civilian was killed during this attack and that an Iranian-designed UAV was successfully shot down.
Kyiv stripped the Iranian ambassador of his accreditation and decided to reduce Iran's diplomatic presence in Ukraine to protest drone deliveries to Russia. "Supplying Russia with weapons to wage war against Ukraine is an unfriendly act that deals a serious blow to relations between Ukraine and Iran," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on September 23.
Kyiv stripped the Iranian ambassador of his accreditation and decided to reduce Iran's diplomatic presence in Ukraine to protest drone deliveries to Russia. "Supplying Russia with weapons to wage war against Ukraine is an unfriendly act that deals a serious blow to relations between Ukraine and Iran," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on September 23.
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On October 5, a building was heavily damaged by Russian suicide drones believed to be Shahed-136's in Bila Tserkva, around 75 kilometers south of Kyiv.
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Speaking on television on October 5, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said Iranian-built drones were launched from occupied areas in southern Ukraine, and that six additional drones had been shot down before reaching their target.
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Ukraine has reported a spate of Russian attacks with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones in the last three weeks, but the strike on Bila Tserkva was the closest to Kyiv.
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Earlier in September, the Ukrainian military reported that it had shot down a drone believed to be a Shahed-136 for the first time near Kupyansk in Ukraine's Kharkiv region.
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In this photo from January 2021, a delta-winged suicide drone believed to be a Shahed-136 approaches a target during a demonstration in Iran.
A Ukrainian colonel in the Kharkiv region told The Wall Street Journal: “In other areas, the Russians have overwhelming artillery firepower, and they manage with that. Here, they no longer have that artillery advantage, and so they have started to resort to these drones,” Colonel Rodion Kulagin said.
A Ukrainian colonel in the Kharkiv region told The Wall Street Journal: “In other areas, the Russians have overwhelming artillery firepower, and they manage with that. Here, they no longer have that artillery advantage, and so they have started to resort to these drones,” Colonel Rodion Kulagin said.
