Kyiv slams Tehran over drones supplied to Russia

The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Oleg Nikolenko, has denied the statement of his Iranian counterpart Nasser Kanaani about the alleged attempts of third parties to pit Ukraine against Iran, emphasizing that Tehran bears all responsibility for ruining relations between the two countries.

Nikolenko commented on Kanaani's statement, who, in response to Kyiv's decision to revoke the accreditation of Iran's ambassador to Ukraine, recommended that Ukraine "refrain from the influence of third parties who seek to destroy relations between the two countries," an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The only ‘third party’ here is Iranian drones, which Ukraine is already directly shooting down from its skies. Tehran bears full responsibility for ruining the relations with Ukraine," Nikolenko stressed.

"Iran must immediately stop supplying weapons to the Russian Federation, aimed at killing Ukrainians, and not justify itself with fantasies about ‘external influence,’” said the Ukrainian diplomat.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on September 23, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to respond to the facts of the use of Iranian-made weapons by Russian troops.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine informed the temporary charge d'affaires of Iran in Ukraine about the decision to strip the ambassador of Iran in Ukraine of accreditation and to significantly reduce the number of diplomatic personnel of the embassy due to the facts of the use of Iranian-made drones by the Russian forces.

As reported earlier, the Russian troops increased the number of air strikes using Iran's Shahed-136 kamikaze drones in the south of Ukraine. In particular, the enemy once again attacked the port infrastructure of the town of Ochakiv, Mykolaiv region, employing the said UAVs . One of the two drones was shot down by Ukrainian air defense, while the other hit a tug.

In Dnipropetrovsk region, an enemy kamikaze drone fell into a household backyard, causing a fire. Six people were injured.