May 18, 2024
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities on Monday tried to dampen public fears over Russia's use of Iranian-built drones on its neighbor by claiming increasing success in shooting down the small aircraft, while talk of a “dirty bomb” attack has added another worrying dimension to the conflict.
Ukrainians are bracing for less electric power this winter following a sustained Russian barrage on infrastructure across their country in recent weeks. Meanwhile, citizens in the southern city of Mykolaiv lined up for water and essential supplies as Ukrainian forces continued their advance on the nearby Russian-occupied city of Kherson.
Ukraine's forces have shot down more than two-thirds of the approximately 330 Shahed drones that Russia has fired through Saturday, the head of Ukraine’s intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, said in a published interview on Monday. Budanov said that Russia's military had ordered about 1,700 units of various types of drones, and a second batch of about 300 Shaheds is currently being rolled out.
“Terror with the use of ‘Shaheds' can actually last for a long time,” he was quoted as saying in Ukrainska Pravda newspaper adding: “Air defense is basically coping, 70% are shot down."
Both Russia and Iran deny that any Iranian-built drones have been used in the war.
Budanov also played down speculation that Russian forces are preparing an immediate exit from Kherson, even though an evacuation of civilians and others including banking personnel and teachers is underway. Budanov said statements to that effect by Russia’s newly appointed commander in Ukraine, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, were aimed at “preparing the ground” in case a full pullout does take place which the Ukrainian official predicted would happen by year's end.
“But at the same time I cannot tell you that right now they are fleeing from Kherson,” Budanov said.
Britain's Ministry of Defense, in an intelligence update posted on Twitter, said Russia was ‘likely’ to use a high number of Shahed drones to penetrate “increasingly effective Ukrainian air defenses” in part to substitute for Russian-made long-range precision weapons “which are becoming increasingly scarce.”
That assessment came on top of a stark warning by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to key Western and Turkish counterparts over the weekend that Ukrainian forces were preparing a “provocation” involving a radioactive device — a so-called “dirty bomb."
Britain, France, and the United States — who got calls from Shoigu on the matter, along with Turkey — rejected that claim. Turkey's defense ministry on Sunday said Defense Minister Hulusi Akar discussed bilateral relations and security issues with Shoigu, including “the need to be cautious about provocations that could worsen the security situation in the region.”
Russia’s defense ministry said Shoigu raised the prospect of “possible Ukrainian provocations involving a ‘dirty bomb,'” which is a device that uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste. Such weapons don’t have the devastating destruction of a nuclear explosion, but could expose broad areas to radioactive contamination.
