Iranian military personnel are on the ground in occupied Ukrainian territories providing aid to the Russian military in their ongoing invasion, the White House confirmed on Thursday night.
"We can confirm that Russian military personnel based in Crimea have been piloting Iranian UAVs and using them to conduct kinetic strikes across Ukraine in strikes against Kyiv, and in recent days we assess that Iranian personnel — Iranian military personnel — were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations," said US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price.
Iranian instructors oversee kamikaze drone attacks
The White House's confirmation comes after an accusation from the Ukrainian National Resistance Center on Wednesday that Iranian instructors were overseeing Russian forces launching kamikaze drones from within annexed Ukrainian territory.
"The Russians took Iranian instructors to the territory of the temporarily occupied Kherson Region and Crimea to launch Shahed-136 kamikaze drones," the government body alleged, citing Ukrainian underground resistance. "They teach the Russians how to use kamikaze drones, and directly monitor the launch of drones on Ukrainian civilian targets, including strikes on Mykolaiv and Odesa."
"We assess that Iranian personnel — Iranian military personnel — were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations."
US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price
Sales of Iranian drones to Russia likely to continue
Price continued to confirm that "Russia has received dozens of these UAVs so far and will likely continue to receive additional shipments in the future."
According to Western intelligence reports, Russia has been using Iranian drones in Ukraine since at least August. In particular, Russia has been accused of using Shahed-136 and Mohajer-6 reconnaissance drones. They've been increasingly been seen used in large Russian bombardments of Ukrainian infrastructure.
"Approximately 300 Iranian drones remains in the Russian arsenal," Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said last Friday. "They plan to buy several thousand more."
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