Photographers Capture Russian 'Suicide Drones' Before Impact in Ukraine
The Shahed-136 drones are made in Iran, which is reportedly supplying Russia in its ongoing assault of Ukraine.
Reports started to surface last month that Iran was supplying Russia with so-called suicide drones, sent to attack civilian targets in Ukraine. And now stunning new images of what those drones look like in the air have been captured by photographers in Kyiv as the city suffered fresh attacks on Monday.
The photos of the drones were captured by Yasuyoshi Chiba and Sergei Supinsky on Monday as Russia launched another offensive against Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million that saw missiles rain down from Russia just a week ago.
The drones appear to match the physical description of Iran’s HESA Shahed-136 drone, a so-called “swarming” aerial weapon that’s launched almost horizontally and contains a warhead in its nose. Russia has renamed the Shahed drones Geran-2, according to the Associated Press. Officially, Iran has denied supplying weapons to Russia since it first invaded Ukraine on February 24.
While some of the drones were shot down by Ukraine on Monday, Russia succeeded in hitting at least four targets in Kyiv, including a residential building and a train station. At least one person died in the attacks, according to Kyiv’s mayor.
Click through for more images from Monday, including Chiba’s photos of the aftermath of the drones, as well as images captured by other photographers in Kyiv today.
“The whole night, and the whole morning, the enemy terrorizes the civilian population,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, according to the Associated Press. “Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine.”
It’s not immediately clear if this image by Sergei Supinsky is the same drone that was captured by photographer Yasuyoshi Chiba.
The Shahed-136 drone is relatively cheap to produce, at just $20,000 each, according to the Associated Press.
More than 7.2 million people in Ukraine have fled the country since Russia first invaded on February 24, according to the United Nations.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday that while NATO countries have become involved in supplying Ukraine, it hasn’t impacted Russia’s goals.
“In fact, NATO has got involved in the Ukrainian conflict. However, it is in no way affecting our goals. That said, the operation will continue and we will go through with it,” Peskov said, according to Russia’s TASS.
Russian state media reported that mobilization efforts were being suspended in Moscow, though it’s not clear whether young men in the city will continue to be rounded up to go fight in Ukraine.