Ukraine’s military announced on Tuesday that an Iranian-made “suicide” drone was shot down during a counteroffensive against Russian forces in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
As Russian troops retreated toward the border, the easily visible delta-winged Shahed-136 drone was shot down near the town of Kupiansk. It did not detonate on impact, like it is supposed to.
Iran earlier disputed in July a US intelligence assessment that it planned to send hundreds of bomb-carrying drones to Russia for use in the Ukraine conflict. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on the other hand, boasted last week about its role in arming some of the world’s most powerful nations.
The Shahed drone, which has a range of around 2,000 kilometers, is available in numerous models in Iran. It has been used by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, assaulted Saudi oil facilities, killed two sailors aboard an oil tanker off the coast of Oman in 2021, and overflew a US aircraft carrier in the Arabian Gulf.
Such bomb-carrying drones are referred to as “loitering munitions” by experts. They fly to a pre-programmed destination and detonate either in the air over the target or on contact.
Iran has moved closer to Russia as it confronts devastating US economic sanctions as a result of the failure of the nuclear deal in 2018. Negotiations to resurrect the accord have stalled.
According to Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar, 150,000 people were liberated from Russian authority in the area. “The goal is to liberate the Kharkiv region and beyond — all Russian Federation-occupied lands,” she stated.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the West needed to speed up military system delivery and asked Ukraine’s partners to “strengthen cooperation to confront Russian terror.”
Western countries have contributed billions of dollars in arms to Ukraine, which Kyiv claims has helped limit Moscow’s territorial gains. Russia controls roughly one-fifth of the country in the south and east, but Ukraine is now on the attack in both areas.
Source: Arab News