Russia has reportedly launched at least 71 Iranian-made Shahed drones against Ukrainian targets since the beginning of March, Britain’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
According to the source, the Russian army started using “one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA-UAVS)” after a two-week break in February.
“Russia has likely started receiving regular resupplies of small numbers of Shahed OWA-UAVs,” the UK intelligence report said.“This allows Russia flexibility to target a broad sector of Ukraine and decreases flying time to targets in the north of Ukraine. It is also likely to be a further attempt to stretch Ukrainian air defenses,” the UK Defense Ministry said.
Increasingly short of missiles to sustain its brutal bombing campaign of Ukraine’s towns and cities, Russia has turned to Iran and also North Korea to replenish its stocks.
Meanwhile, the US, the UK and other western governments have been monitoring the arms cooperation keenly, partly in an effort to prevent it from escalating.
Moscow has also sought to buy ballistic missiles, although there is not any public evidence that Tehran has agreed to send them.
