Despite sanctions, Western technology is inside

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A Ukrainian drone specialist stands like a surgeon over a crashed Iranian kamikaze drone. “Here we have 20 kilograms of TNT,” he says, showing the various interior parts of the shahed to the news portal “Nastoyasheye Vremya”. In order for the Ukrainian military to be able to fend off drones used to attack Russia, they must all be scrutinized. The drone hunters find out: the individual electronic components – despite sanctions – come from the West.

“The interior of the kamikaze drone is very simple but effective,” explains the Ukrainian soldier. “The individual parts for this come from Japan, China and the US,” he continues. Ukraine passes this information on to the West. The US subsequently sanctioned seven Iranian companies involved in the production of the Shahed drones.

The hope was to prevent Iran from making any further deliveries so that Russia would no longer be able to use drones in Ukraine. Instead, companies are always finding new ways to get around the sanctions. Experts believe that Russia is not only buying drones in Iran. China is also repeatedly suspected of supplying arms to Russia.

Western technology reached Russia via detours

In the fall, Russia changed war tactics and used the Shahed drones to attack infrastructure in Ukraine. The damage was immense: destroyed cities, dead, injured. However, in the meantime, Ukrainian drone fighters have gotten much better.

“I think the attackers have realized that we can easily destroy them and their effectiveness is zero,” explained a border guard. Russia changed the location of the attacks. Now Russian military usually launch drones from the north instead of Crimea.

The Ukrainian military hopes the West will impose tougher sanctions on suppliers “so that these electronic components can never enter Iran again and can never be used against us again,” the military said. The problem: According to the border guard, the individual electronic components can even be ordered via the Ali Express online platform. That is why they find their way to the Russian arms depot via detours.

Source: Blick