EU warns Iran of more sanctions over alleged weapon supplies to Russia
Foreign ministers gather to discuss response to drone attacks on Kyiv
EU foreign ministers have warned that Iran would face further sanctions if its military support for Russia’s war in Ukraine is proved, ahead of talks in Luxembourg to discuss the attacks on Kyiv allegedly using Iran-made drones.
Witnesses said the explosions that struck Ukraine’s capital on Monday morning were preceded by a humming noise similar to a loud lawnmower engine, a description that suggests Iran’s Shahed 136 drones may have been used.
The Kyiv City State Administration said 28 drones had been sent to attack the capital, with five reaching their targets, suggesting Ukraine’s air defences had downed many of them before they could do any damage.
According to Ukrainian officials, Russia has increasingly deployed the “kamikaze” drones to target infrastructure across Ukraine in recent weeks, sending them in swarms to make it harder for them to be targeted by Ukrainian air defence.
The EU’s 27 foreign ministers will debate the bloc’s response to the attacks and be briefed on intelligence assessments as to the weapons used, with many calling for harsh sanctions if there is evidence of Tehran’s involvement.
Multiple ministers called for action against Iran citing its “obvious” involvement in the war, according to a person briefed on the talks, who added that EU leaders could agree to take more steps at a summit at the end of this week.
“This morning Kyiv was under heavy attack from drones,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, told reporters on Monday. “This is something that will be discussed, and we will look for concrete evidence about the participation [of Iran in the war].”
Referring to Tehran’s denials that it supplied the weaponised drones to Moscow, Borrell said: “Well, let’s see.”
“On the issue of drones, the discussion will continue,” he said, adding that Ukraine’s foreign minister Dymytro Kuleba will also brief the foreign ministers on the latest developments.
“Iranian drones are used, apparently, to attack in the middle of Kyiv. This is an atrocity,” Denmark’s foreign minister Jeppe Kofod told reporters, adding that the EU must “react strongly . . . and take concrete steps”.
Austria’s foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg said: “These kamikaze drones that we are seeing in Ukraine apparently now, this is an escalation.”
France’s foreign ministry said last week that “a supply of Iranian drones to Russia” would violate a 2015 UN Security Council resolution that permitted the Iranian nuclear deal with other global powers which lifted a swath of economic sanctions on Tehran.
In Monday’s attacks, the white, V-shaped drones carrying payloads of up to 30kg targeted buildings in central Kyiv, their noisy engines humming along like mopeds, which is what the Ukrainian forces now call them.
Ukraine’s Air Force said it had shot down 15 of the kamikaze drones on Monday morning that were heading for targets in the south and east of the country.
In addition to the discussion over the potential use of Iranian drones in the war, EU foreign ministers are also set to separately agree a new package of sanctions against 16 Iranians in response to Tehran’s crackdown on protesters and the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last month in the custody of the country’s morality police.