Iran sent troops to Ukraine to help Russia use Iranian-made drones, Biden admin officials say
The U.S. has evidence that Iran sent troops to Ukraine to help Russia launch drone attacks on targets across the country, Biden administration officials said.
The U.S. has evidence that Iran sent troops to Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine to help Russia launch drone attacks on targets across the country, Biden administration officials said Thursday.
Iran sent trainers and technical support to enable Russian forces to use Iranian-made drones “with better lethality,” John Kirby, White House National Security Council spokesperson, told reporters in a teleconference.
“We assess that Iranian military personnel were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations,” Kirby said.
“The systems themselves were suffering failures and not performing to the standards that apparently the customers expected,” Kirby said. As a result, the Iranians decided to send in troops to assist the Russians, he said.
Asked how many Iranians were in Crimea and why, Kirby said, “I don’t have a number … What we do know is there’s a relatively small number that are.”
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