Iran plans to supply Russia with hundreds of weaponized drones for use in Ukraine, according to a senior US official.
Jake Sullivan, the White House’s national security adviser, said the information received by the US supports views that Russia’s heavy bombing of Ukraine, which has led it to consolidate gains in the east of the country in recent weeks, “came at a cost for the maintenance of their own arms’.
“The Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]including weapons-capable unmanned aerial vehicles on an accelerated schedule,” Sullivan said.
“Our information further indicates that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use these UAVs, with initial training sessions scheduled to begin in early July at the earliest.”
Sullivan said it was unclear whether Iran had yet delivered any of the drones to Russia.
He noted that Iranian drones were used by the Houthi rebels in Yemen to attack Saudi Arabia.
Drones have played a crucial role on both sides in the war in Ukraine, for everything from launching missiles from a distance, to dropping small bombs on targets, to conducting reconnaissance for artillery and ground forces.
Ukrainian forces have had particular success using Turkish armed Bayraktar combat drones, and the US and other allies have supplied Kyiv with many types of smaller drones.
“From our perspective, we will continue to play our role to help maintain the effective defense of Ukraine and to help show the Ukrainians that Russian efforts to try to wipe Ukraine off the map cannot succeed,” Sullivan said. .
Sullivan’s revelation comes ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia, where Iran’s nuclear program and malign activities in the region will be a key topic of discussion.
The US decision to publicly reveal that the two countries’ main regional rival has been helping to rearm Russia comes as both Israel and Saudi Arabia have resisted joining global efforts to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine because of their domestic interests .
Russia’s crushing offensive in eastern Ukraine looks set to continue despite fierce Ukrainian resistance, emboldened by recent shipments of Western-supplied artillery, with Ukraine’s military warning that Russian troops may be planning to launch some of their heaviest attacks yet in Donetsk region.
With no end in sight to the fighting, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said during a visit to Kyiv that his country would supply Ukraine with more long-range artillery and an aid package worth 200 million euros ($201 million).
Western weapons — particularly precision, long-range artillery — “are already changing the course of the war,” Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said Monday.
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