Axios: Ukraine asks Israel to share intelligence information on Russian cooperation with Iran

Author:
Oleksiy Yarmolenko
Date:

Ukraine has asked Israel to share any intelligence information on cooperation between Russia and Iran. Recently, the Russians have been actively using Iranian kamikaze drones at the front, which are creating serious problems for the Ukrainian army.

Axios writes about it.

Israeli diplomat Simona Halperin, who deals with the affairs of Russia and Ukraine, visited Kyiv together with the Israeli ambassador on September 7. They met with the special representative of Ukraine in the Middle East Maxim Subh.

Subh stated Ukraine wants to create a "dialogue channel" with Israel on Middle East issues to exchange information and intelligence and coordinate positions. He added that this is especially important in connection with the growth of military cooperation between Iran and Russia. The Ukrainian diplomat emphasized that Ukraine opposes the lifting of sanctions against Iran in case of the signing of the nuclear agreement, saying that this would allow expanding military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.

Subh also told Israeli diplomats that Ukraine expects Israel to take a much clearer position on Russian aggression and unequivocally support Ukraine. Israel avoids it due to its own relations with Russia. He said his country wants Israel to provide military aid directly or indirectly through third parties and join international sanctions against Moscow, including sanctions against individuals.

A senior Ukrainian official confirmed that Halperin met with Subh, who asked for intelligence information about Iranʼs involvement in the war — mostly about Iranian drones.

"The Israelis have given us some information, but we need a lot more," the official said.

  • On July 11, the United States reported that Iran would soon provide Russia with "up to several hundred drones" and train the Russian military to use them. Russia wanted to get drones for the war against Ukraine amid heavy losses. After that, Iran stated that it has not sold military equipment to Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine and opposes further escalation of hostilities.
  • On July 16, CNN reported that a Russian delegation visited Iran twice to inspect the Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 attack drones, which are capable of carrying missiles. CNN published a satellite image taken on the day of the Russiansʼ visit.