Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Iran of lying about its drone support to Russia amid the ongoing war with Ukraine.
According to reports, Zelenskyy argued that while Tehran claimed it only supplied around 1,200 “Shahed” drones, Ukrainian and Western reports indicated that thousands were provided.
“Tehran initially claimed it provided only a limited batch of ~1,200 ‘Shahed’ drones, but Ukrainian and Western assessments show thousands were supplied and production support was given to build licensed drone factories,” said Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy Clarifies on Iran’s Denials About Supplying Thousands of Drones to Russia
Zelensky stated that at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, when evidence emerged that Iran was supplying drones to Russia, Kyiv contacted Tehran and urged it not to provide the UAVs to avoid becoming complicit in the killing of civilians.
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Iran stressed that it would stop, and it was not interested in being involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“They said that ‘Okay… we are not allies in this’,” he recalled. He said the Iranians told Ukraine: “‘We sold Russians this part of Shaheds, and it will be 1,200 or 1,300, and that’s all.’ But it was not true. They lied, of course.”
Further, Zelensky noted that Iran not only supplied drones but also trained Russian operators and helped Russia establish its own production facilities by sharing licenses and technologies.
“We have had a terrible experience with these drones. […] Ukraine was kind of an experimental place for these drones in the end. You can’t even compare the first class [of] Shahed, what was at the very beginning of the war, and today’s Shahed,” he said.
Russia Supplies Iran with Drones During US-Iran- Israel War
He also noted that Russia is providing Iran with upgraded drones and technical know-how during the ongoing war with the United States and Israel.
“We saw some details from one of the Shaheds, which was destroyed in one of the countries of the Middle East. I will not tell you, sorry, because we said that we will not tell publicly which country it was.” said Zelensky.
However, Zelensky stated that what Ukraine found pointed to Russian involvement.
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Earlier, Zelensky accused Russia of supplying Shahed attack drones to Iran, which Iran then uses to strike US military bases and Israeli targets.
He stated that this information is “100 percent factual” and noted that Iran has already used Russian-made Shahed drones to attack US bases.
The Shahed drone is a low-cost unmanned attack aircraft developed by Iran as a cheaper alternative to expensive missiles.
It was widely deployed for the first time during the Ukraine war after Russia launched its invasion in 2022.
