Russians are advising Iranians on how to use their deadly mini drones to target US assets in the Middle East, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is warning.
The Ukrainian President shared on Monday that Russian officials have advised Iranian counterparts on their operational experience from their invasion against Ukraine, including how to carry out short-range first-person-view (FPV) drone attacks.
Videos of the drone strikes have been a hallmark of the brutal conflict, often showing soldiers or tanks on patrol being hunted by the small UAVs before the screens go black, indicating a detonation.
Russia has recently released a new first-person drone called the KVS which reportedly has a range up to 30 miles that was designed after previous drones faced issues on shorter flights.
Russia has closely worked with Iran since 2022 to deploy its Shahed-136 drone against Ukraine, which Russian officials rebranded into the Geran-1.
In 2025 alone, Russia launched approximately 55,000 Shahed-style drones at Ukraine, according to the institute for Science and International Security.
Having to rely on cheap, widely available drones to fend off repeated Russian assaults during the invasion, Ukraine has developed world-class FPV drone weapons.
They’ve been so effective that the Ukrainian drone tech has even been procured by the US military.
‘I think Russia is supporting Iran directly, 100 percent. The same format of sharing satellite images like they did in the case of Ukraine,’ he told Axios in an interview.
He shared that Russia is keen on the US-Iran war dragging out so that President Vladimir Putin’s oil-reliant economy can sell crude at a markup to continue funding its hostilities in Ukraine.
‘I am sure Russia wants long war. They have benefits: The U.S. is focusing on the Middle East and may decrease military help to Ukraine. Sanctions are partially lifted. I see only benefits for Russia from the war with Iran continuing,’ Zelensky said.
Another concern for Ukraine as the US-Iran war continues: Ukraine’s weapons supply.
Zelensky said he is ‘absolutely’ sure that his country will have ‘challenges’ due to US resources being reallocated to the Middle East.
The Ukrainian President was recently in the Middle East to meet with leaders about possible security deals. He reportedly met with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan.
Ukrainian military officials have also been advising Gulf nations on how to shoot down Iran’s Shahed drones.
Hellbound and Down 