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The Russian terrorist attacks on civilians in Ukraine do not stop. On Monday alone, at least six people have been killed in Kiev and other places as a result of attacks with kamikaze drones, which Russia has proven to have obtained from ally Iran. The number of injured was not clear Monday afternoon. Now the regime in Tehran is apparently still sending devastating weapons to the war zone in Europe.

As the Washington Post reports, citing senior US officials, Tehran is preparing the next shipment of weapons for Moscow. This would not only include dozens of other Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, which have been hitting targets in Ukraine for weeks, but also Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar medium-range ballistic missiles. According to the newspaper, Russia has now largely used up its own stockpiles of such missiles. Last weekend alone, Russia fired more than 80 missiles at Ukraine.

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«Thousands of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles»

According to the specialist portal “Missile Threat”, Iran has “the most and the most diverse medium-range missiles” in the Middle East. Iran’s arsenal includes “thousands of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles” that can hit targets at a distance of 300 to 2000 kilometers.

According to Missile Threat, the Fateh-110 has a range of 300 kilometers and the Zolfaghar even 700 kilometers. But Russia will probably be especially interested in the increased payload of the missiles of 500 kilos each. A Shahed-136, on the other hand, can aim up to 40 kilograms of explosives at a target, but according to Ukrainian information at a distance of 1,000 kilometers.

Ukraine calls for sanctions against Iran

According to information from the Ukrainian secret service, Russia has received 2,400 kamikaze drones from Iran so far. Some of the drones would now also have been fired from Belarus. To make it more difficult for the defenders to intercept, the drones are often deployed in swarms. But Ukraine’s anti-aircraft defenses are apparently improving: the military has shot down 37 of 43 Shahed-136s approaching since Sunday night, it said. At the same time, after the attacks, the Ukrainian government called for further support from the West and sanctions against Iran.

“I am probably the first foreign minister to address the EU Council from a bomb shelter,” Ukrainian official Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter. “I have called on the EU to impose sanctions on Iran for supplying drones to Russia,” he wrote. Ukraine has already severely scaled back diplomatic relations with Iran over the drones for Russia.

Israel: more support for Ukraine?

Politically, Iran’s arms supplies to Russia could be a boomerang for both sides. Following the Washington Post’s report on the latest missile delivery, Israeli minister Nachman Shai called for his country’s greater commitment to Ukraine. “There can no longer be any doubt as to whose side Israel should stand in this bloody conflict,” Shai wrote on Twitter. “It is time we supplied weapons to Ukraine, as the US and other NATO countries are already doing.”

So far, Israel has supported Ukraine with helmets, protective vests, medical equipment and intelligence, but is reluctant to supply Ukraine with weapons because of Russia’s presence in Syria.

Russia’s ex-president, Putin’s confidant Dmitry Medvedev, responded Monday with an unmistakable threat to Minister Shai’s statements. “Israel appears to be planning to supply weapons to the Kiev regime,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram. “A very reckless step that will destroy all intergovernmental relations between our countries.”

Regardless of arms supplies to Russia, the EU on Monday imposed sanctions on Iran’s moral police and other officials in the country. The sanctions list includes eleven responsible persons and four organizations. They are accused of several deaths and the suppression of freedom of expression in Iran. (t-online/mk)