Ukraine_War

Report: IRGC members trained Russian troops in Ukraine

Report says Russian forces may have brought members of IRGC to Ukraine to help train Russian troops on use of Iranian drones.

Drone (illustration)
Drone (illustration)iStock

Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) may have traveled to Russian-held territories in Ukraine in order to help train Russian troops, Fox News reported Sunday, citing a report by the Institute for the Study of War (IFSW), published last week.

The IFSW report said that Russian forces "may have" brought IRGC-affiliated personnel to train the troops in the use of the Shahed-136 drones, in another example of the warming relationship between Moscow and Tehran.

The IFSW draws on a report by the Ukrainian Resistance Center posted Oct. 12 in which it claims an "unspecified" number of instructors from Iran arrived in Dzankoi in Crimea, Zalizniy Port and Hladivtsi in Kherson Oblast.

British outlet The Daily Mirror said the number could be "up to 50" IRGC specialists, but the IFSW told Fox News Digital that it did not have a specific number.

The Pentagon told Fox News Digital it had "nothing to add at this time" in response to the reports.

In July, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the US had intelligence indicating that Russia is looking to Iran for UAVs.

He indicated at the time that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with several UAVs for use in Ukraine, and train Russian forces to use these UAVs.

A month later, it was reported that Iran had begun training Russians to use its drones, though it was also noted that Russia is experiencing “numerous failures” and technical glitches with the drones it purchased from Iran.

Last month, Ukraine reported the first Russian attacks carried out using Iranian-made drones, targeting the south of the country, including the strategic city of Odessa on the Black Sea.

At the start of October, Iranian-made drones were also reportedly used in an attack in the Ukrainian town of Bila Tserkva, southwest of the capital Kyiv.

Ukraine has downgraded diplomatic ties with Iran and stripped the ambassador of his accreditation over what it called Tehran's "unfriendly" decision to supply Russian forces with drones.

Iran said it regretted Ukraine’s decision, claiming it was driven by baseless information provided by foreign media propaganda" against Tehran.

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)