Iran is making a statement by sending trainers to Ukraine to help Russians overcome problems with the fleet of drones that they bought from Tehran, according to The New York Times.
The Iranian trainers are reportedly utilizing a Russian military base in Crimea, where many of the drones have been based since being delivered from Iran, the officials told the newspaper.
According to the report, When Iran sent the first batch of drones to Russia, mistakes from Russian operators rendered them ineffective.
Mechanical issues also grounded the aircraft and decreased their utility and Iran decided to send its trainers to Crimea.
In recent weeks, Ukrainian forces had released images of what analysts say is the wreckage of Iran-made Shahed-136 drones, fired at targets across the country.
The so-called “kamikaze drones” — named because their attacks mimic Japanese suicide attack aircraft in the Second World War — are cheap and can be used in large swarms to overwhelm enemy air defences.
Russia and Iran seemingly had a deal to trade short-term ballistic weapons, specifically for the Russian fight against Ukraine.
Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar are Iranian short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles capable of striking targets at distances from 300 kilometres to 700km.
Asked if Russia had used Iranian drones in its campaign in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin did not have any information about their use.
“Russian equipment with Russian nomenclature is used,” he said. “All further questions should be directed to the defence ministry.”
A European diplomat told Reuters it was his country’s assessment that Russia was finding it more difficult to produce weaponry for itself given the sanctions on its industrial sector and so was turning to imports from partners such as Iran and North Korea.
