In an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Gen Kyrylo Budanov said Russia was behind weapons supply and training on how to use drones against armored vehicles by Hamas terrorists.
Since 2022, Russian troops have been using Iranian-made Shahed drones to target Ukrainian cities and villages.
“No one other than those who were in our theater of war could do such a thing. Since we were not there, it means that it was the Russians,” he said.
As was reported earlier, Russia started domestic production of Iran-supplied Shahed drones no later than July 2023, using Iranian technology as well as some Russian modifications.
According to the spokesperson of Ukraine’s Air Force Yuriy Ihnat, September saw record numbers of Iranian-designed kamikaze drones deployed by Russia against Ukraine.
Whereas Russia launched around 1,000 such drones in the previous heating season, September alone saw nearly 500. Russia has increasingly targeted port infrastructure, agriculture facilities, military sites, warehouses, and airfields with coordinated waves of up to 30 drones at a time, Ihnat said.
Budanov also revealed that Russian state-run news agency Sputnik began Arabic language broadcasts in Lebanon “with a clear Russian narrative” a week before the Hamas attack to destabilize countries.
Ukraine’s intelligence chief told that a long war between Israel and Hamas could affect Western aid to Kyiv. If the fighting in Israel ends within a few weeks, “there is nothing to worry about” regarding the military assistance from the West.
“But if the situation continues, it is quite clear that there will be certain problems with the fact that it will be necessary to supply weapons and ammunition not only to Ukraine,” Budanov explained.
Additionally, the head of intelligence said he believes the world is “approaching global war pretty quickly.”
“Based on the totality of geography, we see several conflicts that at first glance seem to be regional, except for Ukraine, but they are all connected by the same countries,” he added.