‘Russia-Iran Done Axis’ a Power to Be Reckoned with: Israeli Media

Russia is increasingly using Iranian drones in Ukraine, which is a threat that “must be taken seriously” in the international arena, not only in the countries’ respective regions, Israeli West Asia affairs analyst Seth Frantzman wrote in The Jerusalem Post.

According to Frantzman, Iran has been exporting either pieces or blueprints of drones to its regional allies, such as Ansar Allah in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in occupied Palestine. What is notable, however, is that the UAVs are now much more sophisticated than they used to be, with longer ranges and higher precision.

The main point of concern for the Israeli analyst is the fact that Iran is growing to be a lot bigger than its own sphere of influence within West Asia, extending to Europe, namely Russia.

Russia’s usage of loitering munition drones developed by Iran against Ukraine is showing the might of the Iranian UAV capabilities.

Reportedly, Russia is chiefly using the Shahed-136/Geran-2 type kamikaze drone against Ukraine, with many reports surfacing about the matter in recent days. According to Frantzman, for all anyone knows, Russia could have ordered thousands of the drones, or could even be manufacturing them locally.

A Ukrainian fighter jet crashed in the Vinnytsia region of Ukraine on Wednesday, Kiev’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) confirmed earlier on Thursday following reports on the issue.

The fighter jet in question is a MiG-29K, which was sent out to intercept Shahed-136 UAVs, according to the Ukrainian bureau.

The SBI claimed that after the MiG-29K succeeded in destroying five Shahed-136s, the jet collided with debris from a destroyed drone, which caused massive damage to it to the point where it crashed near a village in northeast Vinnytsia. The pilot managed to eject and is currently receiving treatment in the hospital.