The Department of Defense has not seen intelligence to indicate that Russia is using Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles in Ukraine, according to a senior defense official.
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The official told reporters on Friday afternoon that no Iranian UAVs had been spotted in Ukraine yet, days after national security adviser Jake Sullivan informed reporters about intelligence indicating such a plan was in motion.
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“I haven’t seen any indication they are,” the official explained. “Man, it says a lot that the Russians are leaning on Iran to get weapons.”
Sullivan was the first administration to speak about the new intel, saying at a White House briefing on Monday, “Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs, on an expedited timeline. Our information further indicates that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use these UAVs with initial training sessions slated to begin as soon as early July.”
He said it was unclear whether Russia was already in possession of the UAVs, though the official’s comments indicate they haven’t reached the battlefield yet.
The United States, at multiple times since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, has released declassified intelligence about possible future actions by the Russian military in an attempt to out them before they can commit the act.
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The Russian military has killed between 100-150 Ukrainian civilians over the past week or so, the defense official noted. There have been a handful of military strikes with civilian death tolls above a dozen in Vinnytsia and Chasiv Yar in that period.
It comes a day after the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe released its second report on possible war crimes that found the Russian military has “extensively violated” international human rights law in Ukraine.
