“Only yesterday, 11 Shahed drones were shot down,” said the Ukrainian president, whose intelligence services estimate that Russia has 2,400 of these Iranian devices. “Even in this confession they lied,” he charged.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky accused Iran on Saturday of lying about supplying Russia with drones that are used against his country, after Tehran admitted delivering only a few before the war.
“We shoot down at least 10 Iranian drones every day,” he said in his regular late-night social media address. “Even in this confession they lied,” said the president.
Specifically, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hosein Amir Abdolahian, acknowledged this Saturday that his country supplied drones to Russia, after having repeatedly denied it, but insisted that the shipment of drones occurred months before the start of the war in Ukraine. kyiv knows “for sure,” according to Zelensky, “that Iranian instructors taught Russian terrorists how to use drones, and Tehran is generally silent about it.”
The Ukrainian military says it has already shot down hundreds of Iranian-made Shahed-136 kamikaze drones. “Just yesterday, 11 Shahed drones were shot down,” Zelensky said. The Ukrainian military leadership suspects that Russia has ordered 2,400 such drones.
“If Iran continues to lie about the obvious, it means the world will put even more effort into investigating terrorist cooperation between the Russian and Iranian regimes and what Russia pays Iran for such cooperation.” The President of Ukraine has stressed that there will be no impunity for “any of the terrorists or their accomplices”.
The last few hours have brought little change to the front, despite a heavy exchange of artillery. Zelensky said that he had discussed the situation on the war fronts and on the energy issue with the command staff of the armed forces. “We know what the enemy is planning, we will respond and we will continue to liberate our country,” he said.
In his message, Zelensky added that in the coming weeks they expect “good news” regarding Ukraine’s air and anti-missile defense.
“The percentage of shootdowns has increased, but there is still work to be done,” he said. We must ensure the full protection of the Ukrainian sky and we will continue to do everything possible and impossible for this.”