Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Iranians were present in Crimea to help Russia pilot the Shahed-136 armed drones supplied by the Tehran government, but did not say how many Ukraine had killed. Israeli press reports in October said 10 were killed as a result of Ukrainian military incursions into occupied Crimea. Danilov made it clear that any further Iranian military presence would be targeted. “You shouldn’t be where you shouldn’t be,” Danilov said in an interview in Kyiv. “It was on our territory. We did not invite them here, and if they work with terrorists and participate in the destruction of our nation, we must kill them.” Wave after wave of Russian airstrikes, including drone and missile strikes, have targeted Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure since October, plunging it into blackout as winter cold has begun to descend across the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a UN Security Council meeting late Wednesday that the attacks were “a clear crime against humanity” and said Kyiv would submit a resolution condemning “any form of energy terror.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday sought to blame Ukraine, saying it could “end all possible suffering of the civilian population” if it met “the demands of the Russian side.” After initially denying the presence of Iranian drones in Ukraine, Tehran’s government claimed it had supplied a “small number” of drones to Russia months before Vladimir Putin launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine in February. He denies sending Iranian trainers to help Russians fly drones from occupied territories. Kyiv has expressed skepticism about Iran’s version of events, and experts from both countries have met at Tehran’s request to discuss the evidence being collected by Ukraine. “The Iranians continue to insist that they are not arms suppliers to the Russian Federation, but we need confirmation. Do we have this confirmation as of today? No we don’t.” said Danilov. “We understand that these things do not fly without [people] they learn how to handle them, and the Russians don’t have the brains to figure it out on their own… In the modern world you can’t hide anything. It’s just a matter of time before it goes public.” He said it was unclear whether Iran had also delivered ballistic missiles to Russia. “We’re trying to answer that question and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Danilov said. “But if it does, it will tell us two things. First, that Russia does not have the ability to build its own missiles, at least in numbers that would allow it to sustain a large-scale war. Second, if a country under sanctions since 1979 has the ability to produce such weapons, what kind of sanctions are we talking about? So it raises a big question about enforcement.” The papers on the conference table in Danilov’s office were covered with white pages for security, and among them was a chess set with a single black pawn. Asked about it, Danilov said it was a metaphor for a world in which the old rules no longer applied. “It shows that everyone now starts with black,” he said. “Or what’s black could also be white or maybe gray.” Ukraine’s relations with Israel are an example of a gray area. There is a long list of Israeli military equipment that the government in Kiev would like to acquire, but Israel has tried to avoid retaliation from Moscow and tried to appear neutral. Benjamin Netanyahu’s political return to the polls this month further complicates the picture as he has a warm relationship with Vladimir Putin, but Iran’s involvement on Russia’s side will also affect Israel’s calculations. “Israel’s attitude towards this war is known and understood,” Danilov said. “Once again, I would like to point out that in the modern world you cannot hide anything, support or lack of support. Are you pro-democratic or pro-authoritarian? Which side are you on?’ Danilov was speaking after the liberation of the city of Kherson by Ukrainian armed forces and rumors of raids across the Dnipro River into the southern part of the Kherson region leading to Crimea. He was tight-lipped about the situation on the southern front, but showed previously reported operations behind Russian lines. “Our armed forces are where they are needed. We proved it more than once with our actions – when something blew up in the occupied territories or something hit, when things collapse, bridges fall, airports burn and much more. He rejected suggestions that the pace of the Ukrainian counteroffensive might be slowed by winter weather or the Dnipro natural barrier or nervousness among Western allies that the potential loss of Crimea would drive Putin to desperate, destructive measures. . “We have to defend our country and free it from terrorists at any time of the year. The season doesn’t matter,” Danilov said, adding that Dnipro is “another obstacle we will overcome” and that “with modern equipment and modern weapons, it’s just a task that needs to be done.” He added: “Until our entire territory is liberated, our army cannot stop, and that includes Crimea and other territories.”
