Iranian kamikaze drones purchased by russia cause serious damage, striking Ukrainian military equipment.
Source. The Wall Street Journal, which The Insider refers to.
Details. Acording to the media, over the past week, Shahed-136 delta-wing drones, repainted and rebranded as Geranium 2, started to increasingly appear over Ukrainian armour and artillery positions in the northeastern Kharkiv Oblast.
This was told by the commander of the artillery of the 92nd Motorised Rifle Division of Ukraine, Colonel Rodion Kulahin.
In his brigade’s operational area alone, the Iranian drones, which usually fly in pairs and then slam into their targets, have destroyed two 152-mm self-propelled howitzers, two 122-mm self-propelled howitzers, as well as two BTR armoured infantry vehicles.
According to Col. Kulahin, the russians use drones in those areas where they do not have a sufficient advantage in artillery.
He notes that the Iranian drones are relatively small and fly at a very low altitude, making it hard for Ukrainian air-defence systems to detect them.
He also expressed his hope that the US and allies could provide Ukraine with more advanced antidrone technologies, or would step in to disrupt Iranian drone supplies to russia.
In July, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned that russian defence officials had visited Iran, preparing to purchase up to several hundred Iranian drones on an expedited timeline.
At the same time, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian denied this information and stated that Tehran opposed the war against Ukraine.
russian representatives visited Iran's central airfield at least twice during the summer, 2022. The purpose of the visit was to inspect combat drones, CNN reported, referring to satellite images.
In June and early July, Iran showed russia the operation of Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones. The demonstration was held at the Kashan Airfield south of Tehran.
At the end of August, The Washington Post reported that Iran had sent the first batch of UAVs to the russian federation, but when using them, the russian army encountered many technical difficulties, and some drones turned out to be defective.
On September 8, the US Department of the Treasury said it had sanctioned Iranian company Safiran Airport Services for coordinating russian military flights that transported Iranian drones and related equipment to russia, and Iranian drone-manufacturing companies Paravar Pars, DAMA and Baharestan Kish.