Israel providing Ukraine with intelligence about Iranian drones – media
According to the NYT, Israel provides Ukraine with intelligence about Iranian kamikaze drones (Photo:REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi)
Israel is providing Ukraine with basic intelligence about the Iranian drones Russia has begun to use to attack Ukrainian cities, U.S. newspaper the New York Times reported on Oct. 12, with reference to a senior Ukrainian official.
It noted that Ukraine has asked Israel for air defense systems as well, given the successes of that country’s Iron Dome system, as well as the longer-range Barak 8.
Israel has so far declined, however, reluctant to provoke Russia into obstructing Israeli airstrikes in Syria, where Russia has a military presence.
At the same time, according to the Ukrainian official, Israel is providing Ukraine with basic intelligence about Iranian drones, while a private Israeli firm is providing Ukraine with satellite imagery of Russian troop positions.
The use of Iranian drones was first reported on Sept. 13, after the Ukrainian Armed Forces shot down a Shahed-136 UAV in Kupyansk, Kharkiv Oblast.
The aggressor has been using these aircraft more and more often in recent weeks. It is known the Russian army has rebranded them as Geran-2 drones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during his video address to the G7 summit on Oct. 11 that according to Ukrainian military intelligence, Moscow had ordered 2,400 Iranian Shahed-136 loitering munition UAVs.
In addition, according to the regional department of the Zakhid (West) Territorial Defense Forces, at least 20 Iranian-made Shahed-136 kamikaze drones are believed to have been delivered to the Luninets airfield in Belarus.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
