Russia is using more Iranian drones to bomb Ukrainian civilians, says US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has said that the Russian army is intensifying its use ofIranian drones to target civilian areas.

“The Kremlin continues to intensify its bombardment of Ukraine, using Russian missiles and Iranian drones to strike more civilian targets across Ukraine’s territory and to put more innocent civilians — Ukrainians in the crosshairs,” Mr Austin said at the Pentagon during his opening remarks at the 22nd meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

This comes after the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in a helicopter crash in a rural part of the country as they returned from a meeting on the border with Azerbaijan.

After the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Iran became one of its key allies while it faced widespread condemnation and sanctions from the West. The country has been accused of supplying Russia with exploding drones that have severely damaged Ukrainian cities. Mr Raisi rejected those allegations last fall, claiming that Iran hadn’t supplied such weaponry since the invasion began.

But Iranian officials have made contradictory comments regarding the drones. Meanwhile, officials in both Europe and the US have argued that the large numbers of drones being used reveal that the deliveries of such weapons have increased since the beginning of the war.

“Air defense will be high on our agenda today,” Mr Austin said ahead of the meeting on Monday. “And I’ll be urging all of our valued allies and partners to reassess their ability to get Ukraine the air-defense capabilities that it so urgently needs.”

Despite Mr Raisi’s death, it’s unlikely that Iran’s domestic or foreign policy will see great changes. That’s according to