The warning came after Iran admitted for the first time on Saturday that it had sent drones to Russia, but insisted they had been handed over to its ally before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Russia of using Iranian drones in recent weeks to carry out attacks in Ukraine. Tehran has repeatedly denied the claims, but on Saturday Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said drones had been sent to Russia before the invasion began in late February. “We supplied Russia with a limited number of drones months before the war in Ukraine,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Amir-Abdolakhian as saying. Get The Times of Israel Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories By signing up, you agree to the terms President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday accused Iranian officials of lying about drone deliveries to Moscow. “They decided to admit that they supplied drones for Russian terrorism. But even in this confession they are lying,” he said. “We shoot down at least 10 Iranian drones every day, and the Iranian regime claims that it has reportedly delivered little, and even before launching a full-scale invasion.” For weeks, Russian forces have been firing missiles and explosive drones at Ukraine’s infrastructure as a major Ukrainian ground offensive — fueled by Western arms deliveries — has pushed Russian troops back into parts of the country. In this photo released by the Iranian military on Aug. 25, 2022, a drone is launched from a warship in a military drone exercise in Iran. (Iranian Army via AP, File) Russian strikes last month destroyed about a third of Ukraine’s power plants, and the government urged Ukrainians to conserve electricity as much as possible. Ukraine’s state energy company announced on Saturday an additional electricity ratio in Kyiv and several other regions of the country. A barista works by candlelight in a cafe without electricity in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, October 11, 2022. (Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP)
“Deportations”
Kyiv claims that around 400 Iranian drones have already been used against Ukraine’s civilian population and that Moscow has ordered around 2,000. Britain and the European Union have imposed sanctions on three Iranian generals and an arms company accused of supplying Russia with drones. Ukrainian and Russian forces appear to be preparing for a pitched battle in Kherson, a southern city with a population of around 288,000 before the conflict. It was the first major Ukrainian city to fall to Russian forces after the invasion of Moscow. Russia is evacuating civilians from the Kherson region, with President Vladimir Putin saying residents should be “moved away” from danger zones. But Kyiv has likened the withdrawals to Soviet-style “displacements” of its people. The Ukrainian presidency accused the Russians of “trying to track down residents who refuse to evacuate” in Moscow-held areas further from the front line. A judge in a Ukrainian city controlled by Moscow was in a “serious” condition after surviving an assassination attempt, a separatist leader in Donetsk said on Saturday. A mother mourns at the grave of her only son, a soldier, who was killed during a Russian bombing raid, at a cemetery in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, October 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
‘Ready to fight’
Blaming Kyiv, the leader of the self-proclaimed republic’s rebels, Denis Pushilin, told Telegram that the attack took place on Friday night in the town of Vukhlehirsk, in the eastern Donetsk region. Pushilin said the judge was “giving sentences to Nazi war criminals”, referring to the terminology for Ukrainians used by the Kremlin to justify its invasion of Ukraine. “His condition is assessed by doctors as stable but serious,” Pusilin added. Meanwhile, at a remote outpost in northern Ukraine, a border guard scanned the horizon at the border with Russia and Belarus just a few kilometers to the north. “Our main goal is to prevent a (new) invasion. But if it happens here again, we will be ready to stop the enemy at the border and prevent them from coming in,” the 33-year-old told AFP, without giving his name. Inside the well-fortified dugout set up after the Russian withdrawal in April, a border guard in his 30s who goes by the nickname “Lynx” says he believes there is a “50-50 chance” of another Russian attack. “The possibility of attack will always be high here near the border, with a neighbor like this,” he says, a machine gun slung over his shoulder. But about 30km south in Gorodnia – the first town captured by the Russians on the first morning of the invasion – mayor Andriy Bogdan told AFP the situation “is completely different” to what it was then when his town was “almost completely”. unprotected.” “We rely on our border guards and all our defense forces. Today they are here and ready to fight,” says Bogdan. You are a devoted reader We are really glad that you read X Times of Israel articles last month. That’s why we started the Times of Israel ten years ago – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world. So now we have a request. Unlike other media, we have not set up a paywall. But because the journalism we do is expensive, we invite readers to whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community. For just $6 a month you can support our quality journalism by enjoying Times of Israel ADS-FREE, as well as access to exclusive content available only to members of the Times of Israel Community. Thank you, David Horowitz, founding editor of the Times of Israel Join our community Join our community Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
