Kyiv Informs Allies about Western Components in Shahed Drones

Ukraine has sent a document to its Western partners, insisting that the Iran-made Shahed drones, which Russia has been using in the war against Ukraine, contain a lot of sanctioned components from the Western countries.

The Guardian writes that the 47-page-document Ukraine sent to the G7 countries in August reads that 52 components of West-produced electronics were detected in the Shahed-131 drones, and Shahed-136 contained 57 such components.

"Among the manufacturers are companies headquartered in the countries of the sanctions coalition: the United States, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Japan, and Poland… Iranian UAV production has adapted [to the sanctions] and mostly uses available commercial components, the supply of which is poorly or not controlled at all," the document reads.

It also contains information that Iran diversified the production thanks to a Syrian plant which continues to send its products to the Russian city of Novorossiysk.

At the same time, the production of these drones is being gradually established in Tatarstan, though Tehran remains the supplier of the components.

The transportation is carried out by the Caspian Sea.

Ukraine assumes in a letter that Iran wants to distance itself from helping Russia with armament, and its production cannot cope with the Russian demand and the intensity of use in Ukraine.

Reportedly, the markings on the electronic components on drones used in Ukraine in recent months had been destroyed, and the Russian forces have started using the names Geranium-1 and Geranium-2 for these drones.

In July, a new Shahed-136 model marked "Y002" was shot down in Ukraine; it "may have been assembled at a new production facility in Russia".

This week, the US imposed restrictions on a number of Russian and Chinese companies, which help the Russian army with drones. Some of them were mentioned in a journalistic investigation about the components for the Russian Orlan-10 UAVs earlier.

Before that the US imposed sanctions against a branch of businesses from Iran, China, Russia and Türkiye, which facilitated the smuggling of the components for the manufacture of Iran-made aircraft and drones.