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Russian on Tuesday denied deploying Iran-made suicide drones to attack Ukraine.
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The claim contradicted photo evidence as well as assessments by the US and UK.
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The drones killed multiple civilians in Ukraine, far from the battlefield, officials said.
Russia on Tuesday denied using “suicide drones” supplied by Iran to attack Ukraine, the day after photos showed it doing just that.
Dmitri Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, used a press briefing to reject the suggestion that Russia was deploying Iranian gear.
“Russian equipment with Russian nomenclature is used,” he said, according to the Reuters news agency. “All further questions should be directed to the Defence Ministry.”
The claim sits uneasily with evidence from the strikes on Monday, as well as assessments from US and UK intelligence agencies.
Photos of the skies over Kyiv showed the distinctive delta-shaped Shahed-136 drones heading for targets in the capital, a target far from the frontlines which Russia has nonetheless prioritized in recent days.
Striking photos from the AFP news agency showed one of the drones less than 100ft from the ground before hitting a target, while other imagery presented a more distant view.
The White House yesterday said that the drones used were Shahed-136 models. It also dismissed efforts by Iran to deny that it had supplied the weapons to Russia, directly accusing Iran’s officials of lying.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Monday that Russia’s drone operators are being trained in Iran.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence also said that Shahed-136 drones had been used in Ukraine, identifying them in an assessment published Tuesday.
And US intelligence officials told The Washington Post in a Sunday report that Iran has agreed to send more weapons to Russia, including surface-to-surface missiles and more drones.
Per Reuters, at least one wrecked drone found in Ukraine had been labelled with a Russian name, Geran-2, instead of Shahed-136, perhaps bearing out Peskov’s claim of equipment with “Russian nomenclature” being used.
The drones are an attractive weapon for Russia because they are simple, have a long range and are relatively cheap, as Insider’s Jake Epstein reported.
The drones are also slow and low flying, which makes them relatively easy to shoot down.
But Russia can send many at once, leaving Ukraine’s options for responding limited.
The drones killed multiple civilians in Kyiv on Monday, officials said.
Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, on Monday attributed one of the deaths directly to an Iranian drone, publishing a photograph of a woman called Vika.
Per Zelenska, she was killed by drone strike along with her husband and their unborn child.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said five people were killed when the drones hit Kyiv on Monday, including an elderly woman found in the rubble.
The EU said it will investigate Iran’s role and will sanction Iran if it find that its military is backing Russia.
Denmark also said that Iranian drones were used, with its foreign minister saying on Monday: “Iranian drones are used apparently to attack in the middle of Kyiv, this is an atrocity.”
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