The European Union said on Monday there was “credible information” that Iran had sent ballistic missiles to Moscow for use in its war on Ukraine, as Kyiv urged the US and other allies to let it use western-supplied arms to strike weapons stores and other military targets deeper inside Russia.
“We are aware of the credible information provided by allies on the delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia,” EU spokesman Peter Stano said on Monday.
“We are looking further into it with our member states and, if confirmed, this delivery would represent a substantive material escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” he added.
US media have reported that Tehran has delivered short-range ballistic missiles to Moscow and that Washington has informed allies about a development that US national security spokesman Sean Savett said “would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”.
Iranian officials rejected the claim, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not categorically deny it on Monday, as he hailed ties with Tehran that have led to it providing many hundreds of explosive “Shahed” drones to Moscow for attacks on Ukraine.
“Iran is our important partner, we are developing our trade and economic relations, we are developing our co-operation and dialogue in all possible areas, including the most sensitive ones,” Mr Peskov said.
When asked specifically about a Wall Street Journal report on alleged deliveries of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia, Mr Peskov said: “This type of information does not always correspond to reality.”
Kyiv has used western-supplied missiles and other weapons to hit Russian airbases, command posts, arms stores, air defence systems and other key targets in occupied parts of Ukraine and in Russian border areas. But the US and other allies have refused to grant permission for strikes deeper inside Russia, citing fears of “escalation”.
“A country that provides arms to terrorist organisations and terrorist states must be punished,” said Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“In response to the supply of ballistic missiles to Russia, Ukraine should be given permission to destroy warehouses storing these missiles using western weapons, so as to prevent terror,” he added. “Democracies must respond to the terror of autocracies. Strikes on terrorist Russia are done in defence. And defence is not escalation.”
Ukraine’s energy ministry said Russian shelling on Sunday and Monday had damaged infrastructure in seven regions of Ukraine and cut electricity supplies to more than 250,000 customers.
Ukraine is concerned that its severely weakened power grid will struggle to cope with demand in autumn and winter, leaving millions of people potentially facing long blackouts in the coldest and darkest months.
The Ukrainian military said it shot down six of eight Russian attack drones and two of three cruise missiles launched by Russia in the early hours of Monday, and that the other projectiles failed to hit their targets.
Officials said Russian shelling of the frontline town of Nikopol killed a 16-year-old girl and wounded three other people on Monday, and that Russian attacks over the previous 24 hours had killed at least seven civilians and injured more than 30 in several regions.
Latvia said a drone that crashed on its territory on Saturday was an explosive-laden Shahed-type weapon that came down in the Nato state after flying over the border from Belarus, a close ally of the Kremlin. Romania also reported an incursion by a Russian drone near its border with Ukraine on Sunday.
EU and Nato members says their state agencies are prime targets for Russian hackers, and security officials in Germany and Poland on Monday blamed Moscow-linked operatives for recent cyberattack campaigns.
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