Russia’s Military Ties with Iran Will Withstand Geopolitical Pressure

Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Ryabkov attends the Iran and BRICS summit in Tehran, Iran, August 8, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Ryabkov attends the Iran and BRICS summit in Tehran, Iran, August 8, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
TT

Russia’s Military Ties with Iran Will Withstand Geopolitical Pressure

Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Ryabkov attends the Iran and BRICS summit in Tehran, Iran, August 8, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Ryabkov attends the Iran and BRICS summit in Tehran, Iran, August 8, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Russia's military cooperation with Iran will not succumb to geopolitical pressure, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, following reports that Washington has asked Tehran to stop selling drones to Moscow.

"There are no changes, and cooperation with Iran will continue," Ryabkov said, according to a report on Saturday from Russian state news agency RIA. "We are independent states and do not succumb to the dictates of the United States and its satellites."

The US is pressing Iran to stop selling the armed drones, which Russia is using in the war in Ukraine, the Financial Times reported earlier this month, citing an Iranian official and another person familiar with the talks.

Russia began using the Iranian-made Shahed drones to attack deep inside Ukraine last year. The so-called kamikaze unmanned drones do not need a runway to launch and explode on impact.

Iran has acknowledged sending drones to Russia but said in the past they were sent before Russia's February 2022 invasion in Ukraine. Moscow has denied its forces used Iranian drones in Ukraine.

A White House official said in June that Iran had transferred several hundred drones to Russia since August 2022.



Zelenskiy Says North Korea Could Send More Troops, Military Equipment to Russia

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Zelenskiy Says North Korea Could Send More Troops, Military Equipment to Russia

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Council President Antonio Costa (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. (Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed and wounded in Russia's Kursk region and warned that Pyongyang could send more personnel and equipment for Moscow's army.

"There are risks of North Korea sending additional troops and military equipment to the Russian army," Zelenskiy said on X after receiving a report from his top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi.

"We will have tangible responses to this," he added.

The estimate of North Korean losses is higher than that provided by Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), which said on Monday at least 1,100 North Korean troops had been killed or wounded.

The assessment was in line with a briefing last week by South Korea's spy agency, which reported some 100 deaths with another 1,000 wounded in the region.

Zelenskiy said he cited preliminary data. Reuters could not independently verify reports on combat losses.

Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Koreans on its side. Pyongyang initially dismissed reports about the troop deployment as "fake news", but a North Korean official has said any such deployment would be lawful.

According to Ukrainian and allied assessments, North Korea has sent around 12,000 troops to Russia.

Some of them have been deployed for combat in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukraine still holds a chunk of land after a major cross-border incursion in August.

JCS added that it has detected signs of Pyongyang planning to produce suicide drones to be shipped to Russia, in addition to the already supplied 240mm multiple rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers.

Kyiv continues to press allies for a tougher response as it says Moscow's and Pyongyang's transfer of warfare experience and military technologies constitute a global threat.

"For the world, the cost of restoring stability is always much higher than the cost of effectively pressuring those who destabilize the situation and destroy lives," Zelenskiy said.