Iran is preparing to send approximately 1,000 additional weapons, including surface-to-surface short range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine, officials from a western country that closely monitors Iran’s weapons program told CNN.
CNN writes that this first instance of Iran sending advanced precision-guided missiles to Russia could give the Kremlin a substantial boost on the battlefield and thus is being monitored closely. So far, Iran had sent numerous Shahed-136 drones that it regularly uses to launch attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. There have also been reports of Iran training Russians to operate the more advanced Arash-2 drones.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence confirmed this information and provided more details. Particularly, it says that the batch will be sent from Iran in early November and will include more than 200 Shahed-136, Mohajer-6, and Arash-2 combat drones. They will be delivered by the Caspian Sea to the port of Astrakhan in a disassembled state. In the future, they will be assembled, repainted, and marked with Russian markings, in particular “Geranium-2,” the Defense Intelligence wrote.
Since September 13, when the occupiers first used Iranian kamikaze drones against Ukraine, the Ukrainian Defense Forces have shot down more than 300 such UAVs, the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence said.
Ukraine has reported that its air defense has shot down more than 300 Iranian Shahed-136 drones. President Zelenskyy has earlier stated that Russia ordered 2400 such drones from Iran.
Western officials believe the weapons will definitely be delivered before the end of the year, CNN reported.
Iran has denied sending weapons to Russia.
It costs Ukraine roughly 2x more to down Shahed-136 drones than for Russia to send them
Russia launches Shahed drones from Chernobyl exlusion zone in Belarus – OSINT project
