Ukrainian diplomat calls for attacks on Russian drone factories due to deliveries to Iran

(Patria) - Russia's delivery of modernized drones to Iran has made Russian drone production sites legitimate military targets, a high-ranking Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Melnyk said yesterday, calling on Western powers to equip Ukraine with weapons capable of hitting those sites, Reuters reported.

Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Andriy Melnyk, said that Russia's support for Tehran with modernized versions of Iranian Shahed drones and other military support means that Russia is now Tehran's main accomplice in the war.

"The recent conflict in Iran has revealed how intertwined this crisis is with Russia's military invasion and the malicious, imperialist goals of the Kremlin," he said at a special session of the Security Council on the war in Ukraine.

Russia's deliveries of modernized versions of Iranian Shahed drones, using licenses granted by Tehran, have marked an unprecedented escalation that would allow Iran to attack Persian Gulf countries and US forces in the region for an extended period, destabilizing the region and threatening the global economy, Melnyk said.

As a result, Russian drone production facilities should be considered "legitimate targets for military strikes in the campaign against the mullahs' regime," he said.

Ukraine has already attacked Russian drone production facilities given the threats that weapons pose to its people and infrastructure, but could be more effective with new weapons and resources, he said.

"Providing Ukraine with deep strike capabilities and helping to increase our domestic production of long-range missiles would support collective efforts to establish peace in the Middle East," Melnyk said.

Ukraine has sent hundreds of experts to the Persian Gulf region to help local countries defend against drones.

Russia has also supplied attack helicopters to Iran, a clear violation of UN restrictions on arms, he said.

He told the council that the war in Iran has offered a "new lifeline for the Russian war machine," citing a sharp increase in oil prices that has helped Moscow's struggling economy.