The Russian military is rebuilding and camouflaging Iranian-made drones with Russian military markings for use in the Ukraine war, according to a new report from the Institute for the Studies of War.
“Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported on November 1 that Iranian officials intend to send a shipment of more than 200 Shahid-136, Muhajir-6 and Arash-2 combat drones to Russia,” according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said the in assessment of the Russian offensive campaign on Tuesday. “GUR stated that Iran will send the UAVs to Russia in a dismantled state and that Russian personnel will collect them with Russian markings.”
As the report indicated, on Tuesday, Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate said that at the beginning of this month, Russia is expected to receive hundreds of new drones from Iran. The Ukrainian Military Intelligence Directorate said: “The drones will arrive in a disassembled state. In the future, on the territory of the Russian Federation, they will be collected, repainted and applied with Russian markings, in particular ‘Geranium-2’.
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The report by ISW and Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate comes amid the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly claimed that the Russian military uses Iranian-made drones, and also said that they have shot down hundreds of them.
Last month, Ukraine also announced that in addition to the Shahed-136 drones, Iran was sending Russia Drones Arash-2which ISW previously said was “faster and apparently more destructive.”
while talking with NEWSWEEK Last month, Catherine Lawlor, a senior intelligence analyst at ISW, explained: “The only reason it’s more effective than the Shahid-136 is because it can go faster, if it can have some kind of stealth capabilities. I don’t have any Proof that this is the case but the Iranians claimed it was faster and bigger.”
lolor too Tell NEWSWEEK that over the course of the ongoing war, the Russian military has shown that its use of drones is “to achieve a terrorist effect on Ukrainian civilians… not to bring about a radical change on the battlefield.”
The latest ISW report also said that since Ukraine first began accusing Russia of using Iranian-made drones in September, the defense forces have “downed more than 300 Shahid-136 drones.”
However, Iran continued to deny reports that it had provided Russia with military equipment. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser al-Kinani said in a statement issued in October that the accusations “baseless. “
NEWSWEEK I contacted ISW and the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.