US says Russia receives Iranian combat drones, many faulty

WASHINGTON: Russia has begun receiving Iranian combat drones to be used in the Ukraine war, but many of them have already proven faulty, the US military said on Tuesday.

"Russian transport aircraft loaded the UAV equipment at an airfield in Iran and subsequently flew from Iran to Russia over several days in August," said Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder, using the initials for unmanned aerial vehicle.

"It’s likely part of Russia’s plans to import hundreds of Iranian UAVs of various types," he said. However, Ryder said, "our information indicates that UAVs associated with this transfer have already experienced numerous failures." He did not offer evidence for that claim.

After both sides have deployed and lost large numbers of surveillance and attack drones over the six months of the war, Russian are importing two types from Iran: the Mohajer-6 and the Shahed-series UAVs, according to the Pentagon.

Russian forces intend to use the Iranian UAVs for air-to-surface attacks, electronic warfare, and battlefield targeting. Ryder said Moscow turned to Iran in part because sanctions and export controls directed at Russia by Ukraine’s allies have made it harder for Russian industry to produce their own.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Russian soldiers to flee for their lives after his forces launched an offensive to retake southern Ukraine, but Moscow said it had repulsed the attack and inflicted heavy losses on Kyiv's troops.

Ukraine said last night that its ground forces had gone on the offensive in the south for the first time after a long period of striking Russian supply lines, in particular bridges across the strategically-important River Dnipro, and ammunition dumps.

"If they want to survive, it's time for the Russian military to run away. Go home," Me Zelensky said in a late-night address. "Ukraine is taking back its own (land)," he said, adding that he would not disclose Kyiv's battle plans.

In response, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was methodically pressing on with its plans in Ukraine, adding: "All of our goals will be reached." It comes as intense fighting rages across the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, which is occupied by Russia, according to Kyiv's presidency, which adds that Ukrainian troops are pressing a counter-offensives "in various directions".

Most of the region of Kherson bordering the Black Sea - and its provincial capital of the same name - were seized by Moscow's military at the start of the invasion just over six months ago.