The Department of Defense believes the Russian military has begun using drones acquired from Iran in Ukraine.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder confirmed the United States has seen such intelligence during Tuesday’s briefing, more than two months after the administration first warned about Russia’s intent to purchase “hundreds” of UAVs from Iran.
“So we — we do assess that the Russians now are using the Iranian drones that we’ve talked about in the past,” he said, adding, “In terms of their effectiveness, I don’t want to provide a battle damage assessment here from the podium or get into specific intelligence other than to say, again, we’ve seen them employ them. We’ve also seen reports of the Ukrainians shooting down some of these drones.”
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Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense claimed on Sept. 13 that it had shot down an Iranian drone launched by Russians for the first time. The ministry posted photos of the wreckage of the drone on social media and identified the drone as a Shahed-136. Officials said the army shot down the drone near Kupiansk, Kharkiv.
Administration officials confirmed to the Washington Examiner in late August that they had acquired the drones, though the Pentagon had said it couldn’t corroborate those reports prior to Tuesday.
“We assess that Russia intends to use these Iranian UAVs, which can conduct air-to-surface attacks, electronic warfare, and targeting, on the battlefield in Ukraine,” an administration official said. “The Russian military is suffering from major supply shortages in Ukraine, in part because of sanctions and export controls, forcing Russia to rely on unreliable countries like Iran for supplies and equipment.”
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The North Korean government denied providing military equipment to Russia days after the Biden administration released declassified intelligence that indicated Russia’s Ministry of Defense “is in the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea,” a U.S. official told the Washington Examiner on Sept. 6.
Despite the denial by the North Koreans, the administration stands by its initial assessment, according to a U.S. official.
