The Ukrainian Air Force will shoot down Russia’s new Iranian-made drones “the same as they did with other Russian drones”, Yuriy Ignat, spokesperson for the Air Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has told the Espreso TV channel.
He explained that Iranian drones can carry three times as many weapons as Bayraktar. But at the same time, they remain ordinary targets for the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces.
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“This is a common target that our our Defense Forces will shoot down. The same they do now with other Russian drones. The only thing we need to know is that this is a modern attack drone. But we do not know the quality of its production, because Iran’s been under sanctions for years,” Ignat stressed.
At the same time, he added that it is not easy to control such a drone because a crew of at least two people must pass flight training and learn how to strike ground targets. There are also significant doubts about the number of such drones in Russia.
At a press conference on August 31, White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre officially announced that US intelligence had confirmed Russia had received the combat drones from Iran.
“According to our data, Russia has received Iranian Mohajer-6 and Shahed drones sometime in August,” she said. “Russian cargo planes were loaded with UAVs at an Iranian airfield, before leaving for Russia. That’s what we see, that’s our assessment.”
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, July 2, 2024
However, according to a senior U.S. administration official, Russia has faced “numerous failures” in using them. Therefore, it is unclear to what extent they will affect the situation at the frontline. At the same time, according to State Department Principal Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel, The Russian military is suffering from major supply shortages in Ukraine.
“The Russian military is suffering from major supply shortages in Ukraine in part because of sanctions and export controls, forcing Russia to rely on unreliable countries like Iran for supplies and equipment,” Patel said during a phone briefing Tuesday. “We’ll continue to vigorously enforce all US sanctions on both the Russian and Iranian arms trade and we will stand with our partners throughout the region against the Iranian threat,” stated Patel.
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