• Russian forces are employing Iranian drones to attack Ukraine.
• The accreditation of the Iranian ambassador will be revoked.
• Iranian diplomatic staff in Kyiv will be decreased.

As a result of Russian forces employing Iranian drones to attack Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that the accreditation of the Iranian ambassador will be revoked and Iranian diplomatic staff in Kyiv will be decreased.

According to Zelenskyy in a late-night video address on Friday, Ukrainian forces have so far shot down eight drones built in Iran.

“Today, the Russian army attacked the Dnipropetrovsk region and Odesa using Iranian drones. In his address, Zelenskyy stated, “I told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to aggressively react to this fact.

“Our air defences of the East and South command killed six of these Iranian drones. By the navy’s air defences, one more was forced to the ground. And right now, I’m hearing about the downing of another Iranian strike drone by the air defences of the South Command,” he continued.

He added that the Ukrainian side has decided to revoke the Iranian ambassador’s credentials and drastically cut back on the embassy’s diplomatic staff as a result of the unfriendly act.

Iran has refuted charges made by Kyiv and Washington that it gave Russia drones, and Tehran’s leaders have previously stated that Iran will not support any side in the conflict since it supports finding a peaceful settlement through discussion.

In response to the delivery of weaponry to Russia, Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian foreign ministry, tweeted on Saturday that “we notified the revocation of accreditation of the Iranian Ambassador in Kyiv, and a considerable drawdown of diplomatic employees at the Iranian embassy.”

According to Agence France-Presse, the Ukrainian foreign ministry previously said that “the temporary charge d’affaires of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Ukraine was called” over the matter.

According to a ministry statement, the envoy was informed that providing Russian forces with Iranian weapons “directly contradicts the position of neutrality, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine” and is “an unfriendly act that deals a serious blow to relations between Ukraine and Iran.”

Four Shahed-136 “kamikaze” unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down, according to military authorities in southern Ukraine, over the water near the port of Odesa.

According to the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper, the air force claimed separately that it had successfully shot down a larger Iranian drone called the Mohajer-6 for the first time.

Earlier this week, the UK’s defence minister backed a Ukrainian assertion that its soldiers most certainly shot down a Russian drone that was produced in Iran.

The ministry stated that it was “very likely” that Russia had used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) built in Iran in the nearly seven-month conflict in Ukraine in its military intelligence update on Wednesday.

In response to Iran supplying weapons to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine, today we announced the revocation of accreditation of the Iranian Ambassador in Kyiv, and a significant drawdown of diplomatic personnel at the Iranian embassy.

— Oleg Nikolenko (@OlegNikolenko_) September 23, 2022

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