The Russian Federation is attempting to source more drones and “hundreds” of missiles from the Islamic Republic of Iran in order to sustain its campaign of strategic strikes against Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) believes.
In its Saturday intelligence update on the progress of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the British government ministry asserted that “Iran has become one of Russia’s top military backers” and that Tehran’s “support to the Russian military is likely to grow in the coming months” — particularly emphasising Moscow’s efforts to source “hundreds of ballistic missiles” from the Islamist country.
“In return Russia is highly likely offering Iran an unprecedented level of military and technical support that is transforming their defence relationship,” the MoD suggested — Russia having nuclear expertise and knowledge of things like stealth technology likely to be useful to the Iranian regime, given most advanced states have an at best arms-length relationship with it.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 10 December 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/32IwfHj0a1
🇺 #StandWithUkraine 🇺 pic.twitter.com/gT1KKRBrap
— Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) December 10, 2022
The British suggested, not for the first time, that Russia has “highly likely expended a large proportion of its stock of its own SS-26 Iskander short range ballistic missiles” — although Western and Ukrainian officials have long speculated that Russian forces must be running out of missiles, only for them to progressively increase the scale of their strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure as the year progresses.
“If Russia succeeds in bringing a large number of Iranian ballistic missiles into service, it will likely use them to continue and expand its campaign of strikes against Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure,” the MoD added.
While the impact of Russian strikes on the front lines of the conflict, if any, is unclear, they have had a devasting impact on the Ukrainian power grid, with swathes of the Ukrainian populace country facing a loss of heating and electricity in a country known for its harsh winters.
Kyiv’s backers in Britain and the European Union, already hosting large numbers of Ukrainian refugees at a time when energy crises, general cost-of-living crises, non-Ukrainian migrant crises, and the prospect of food shortages are causing significant strain, could find another influx from Ukraine very trying, with the European Commission suspecting Russia could be deliberately trying to engineer a refugee surge.
EU Commissioner Warns Russia May Be Trying to Flood Europe with Ukrainian Refugees https://t.co/1ue2celzvH
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 10, 2022
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