whitefish here our liveblog about the war in Ukraine
A senior Ukrainian security official confirmed the killing of military advisers in Crimea and warned that any Iranians in Ukraine who support Russia’s invasion of the country would be targeted by firing squad.
Statements were made by Secretary of the Council of National Defense and Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov, who said that the Iranians were in Crimea in order to to teach Russian soldiers to operate Shahed-136 combat dronessupplied to Russia by Iran.
Although Danilov did not confirm how many Iranian troops were killed by Kyiv forces in October, the Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post It was reported that ten councilors were killed during Ukraine’s attack on Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014.
According to The keeperin an interview in Kyiv, Danilov downplayed the attack, saying the soldiers were “collaborating with terrorists and taking part in the destruction” of Ukraine. “You shouldn’t be where you shouldn’t be”he added.
After Tehran initially denied supplying the drones to Moscow, Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahyanconfirmed that the government provided “a limited number of drones to Russia months before the war in Ukraine.
In an interview Thursday, Danilov said it remains to be determined if Iran will supply ballistic missiles to Russia in addition to drones, saying if that’s true, then Moscow.does not have the ability to produce its own missilesat least in numbers that would allow him to continue a full-scale war.
The Ukrainian official also questioned the effectiveness of sanctions imposed on Iran by the West, given that the country, which “has been under sanctions since 1979,” has the ability to “produce such weapons.”
The official documents lying on Alexei Danilov’s desk were covered with white sheets for security reasons, but in the middle of them was a game of chess with only one black pawn going forward. When asked about the symbolism of the board, Danilov replied that the game is a metaphor for a world where the rules no longer apply or respect.
“It shows that now everyone has begun [a jogar] with black,” said the soldier. “Or that black can also be white, or that it can be gray.”
