ABUNDANT EVIDENCE’ IRANIAN DRONES ARE BEING USED TO ATTACK UKRAINE, SAYS US

Thu 20 October 2022:

The United States claimed on Wednesday that it has “abundant evidence” that Russia is attacking Ukraine with drones made in Iran, Anadolu Agency reported.

“The United States began warning in July that Iran was planning to transfer UAVs to Russia for use in Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, and we now have abundant evidence that these UAVs are being used to strike Ukrainian civilians and critical civilian infrastructure,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.

“As Iran continues to lie and deny providing weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, we are committed to working with allies and partners to prevent the transfer of dangerous weaponry to Russia,” said Price.

He said the U.S. will not hesitate to use sanctions and other appropriate tools against all those involved in these transfers.

“We will also continue to surge unprecedented security assistance to Ukraine, including air defense capabilities, so that Ukraine can defend itself from these weapons,” he added.

Price also said the U.S. joined the UK and France in raising the issue of Iran’s transfer of drones to Russia at a meeting of the UN Security Council.

At a closed-door briefing, council members received expert briefings from the UN Secretariat on reports of the transfer of these dangerous weapons, he said.

“We expressed our grave concerns about Russia’s acquisition of these UAVs from Iran in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231,” he added.

As Moscow has upped the ante in Ukraine with a series of kamikaze drone strikes on Ukrainian cities and crucial infrastructure in recent weeks, Iran has rejected claims by the West that it is providing domestically produced drones to Russia.

Multiple pictures shared on social media purport to show Iranian-made Shahed drones, also known as Geran-2 in Russia, flying over the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as well as the wreckage left behind after the aircraft struck their targets.

In response to Iran’s sale of drones to Russia, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba suggested on Monday that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy break off diplomatic ties with Iran.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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