Iran helped Russia with 'modified drones' to cause 'more damage' in Ukraine: Study

As the Russia-Ukraine war escalates, reports are emerging that Iran helped Russia to employ “multipurpose” drones in Ukraine for “maximum damage”. Citing a study released this week, CNN reported that Tehran has modified attacking drones to help Moscow cause colossal damage in war-stricken Ukraine. The study was conducted by the researcher at Conflict Armament Research (CAR), which published its findings on Thursday and exposed Iran’s alleged help to Russia. According to CNN, the study particularly focused on the single-use Iranian drone, Shahed-131, which has been frequently used in the Russia-Ukraine war.  

The Iranian drones played a leading role in causing heavy damage to the critical infrastructure of Kyiv. According to the CAR report, one of the key characteristics of the warheads sent to Ukraine is the fact that it was heavily modified with poorly fitted layers of small metal fragments. These fragments helped the impact to scatter around in a large radius, causing heavy damage. The report also revealed that the warhead comprised 18 smaller “charges” which have the potential to create a “360-degree” explosive impact.

“It’s as though they looked at the finished warhead and said, ‘How can we make this even more destructive?’,” Damien Spleeters, one of the members of the research team told CNN. According to CNN, the Iranian regime gave hundreds of drones to Kremlin, which were then used to target the Ukrainian power grid and energy facilities. 

Reports broke all the speculations

Earlier it was reported that the Iranian drones which were used in Ukraine also contained a significant amount of “western components”. It was also speculated that American technology was used in the infamous drones. While the CAR report didn’t give clarity in this regard, it made it clear that it will be wrong to assume that the drones were made with cheap technology. “There had been a lot of speculation that perhaps these explosives were very crude, cheap and simple,” Spleeter told CNN.  “But looking at the warhead (Shahed-131), it is clear that a lot of thought has been put into making sure that it can inflict as much damage as possible to infrastructure in a large radius,” he added. 

When it comes to the politics surrounding the whole issue, when reports emerged that Moscow is using Iranian drones in the Russia-Ukraine war, Tehran initially denied the allegation. However, once it was proven that Iranian drones were indeed used in the war, the Iranian administration maintained a very distant stance on the issue. The western allies of Ukraine, on the other hand, decided to impose sanctions on the country which is already stuck in nationwide anti-government protests.