MOSCOW (Dispatches) --
Russia on Tuesday rejected allegations concerning the use of Iranian drones in his country’s military campaign in Ukraine, saying Russia is using domestically-manufactured drones.
Asked whether Russia had used or purchased Iranian drones, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the hardware that is used in the war is Russian.
“No, we do not have such information. The hardware that is used is Russian. You know that. It has Russian names. You can address all other questions to the Defense Ministry,” he said.
U.S. State Department has claimed that Iranian drones were used on a Monday morning attack on the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
Iran has on numerous occasions dismissed as “baseless” the reports about sending combat drones to Russia to be used in the Ukraine war.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani reiterated that the Islamic Republic “has not provided weaponry to any of the parties.”
He stated that the published news has political motives, adding that Iran continues to support a political solution to the conflict.
Back in July, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan claimed Washington had received “information” indicating that Iran was preparing to provide Russia with “up to several hundred UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline” for use in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Late last month, Ukraine announced that it would withdraw the accreditation of the Iranian ambassador and significantly reduce the number of diplomatic staff at the country’s embassy in Kiev over what it called Tehran’s “unfriendly” decision to supply Russian forces with drones.
Reacting to the decision, Kanaani said it was “based on unconfirmed reports and resulted from media hype by foreign sides.”
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s foreign minister said he was submitting a proposal to President Volodymyr Zelensky to formally cut diplomatic ties with Tehran after a wave of Russian attacks using what Kyiv claims are Iranian-made drones.
Ukraine claims the attacks were carried out with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones. Tehran denies supplying the drones.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he had urged the European Union to impose sanctions on Iran.
“Severe sanctions against Iran are especially relevant right now, as we are witnessing reports on Iranian intentions to give Russia ballistic missiles to be used against Ukrainians,” he said.
Reuters on Tuesday claimed that Iran had promised to provide Russia with surface to surface missiles, in addition to more drones.
“The Russians had asked for more drones and those Iranian ballistic missiles with improved accuracy, particularly the Fateh and Zolfaghar missiles family,” it said.
Kuleba said Kyiv would send an official note to Occupied Palestine seeking immediate Israeli air defense supplies and cooperation in the sector.
There was no immediate response from the Zionist regime to Kuleba’s remarks.
Earlier on Tuesday, a member of the occupying regime’s decision-making security cabinet, minister Gideon Saar, told national broadcaster Army Radio: “Our support for Ukraine does not include weapons systems and weaponry - and there is no change to that position.”