President Volodymyr Zelensky said Iran had effectively participated in Russia’s war against Ukraine from its earliest stages by supplying Moscow with drones, weapons and military technology, responding to Tehran’s threat of retaliation over a deadly Ukrainian strike on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea.
In an interview with Sky News, Zelensky was asked whether he was concerned about a potential Iranian response to the maritime attack.
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“What do you expect, if Iran transferred new technologies to Russia from the first year of the war?” Zelensky said, according to Suspilne.
“These were Shahed drones. They transferred thousands of these drones in the first year of the war. Then they issued licenses. What did they do? Did they attack us? I think so.”
His remarks followed a warning from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that the Ukrainian attack “cannot go unanswered.”
Iran said the strike caused an explosion aboard what it described as a commercial vessel, killing one sailor and injuring another. The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the operation as a “hostile and criminal” act and summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to lodge a formal protest.
Ukraine has presented a different account of the vessel’s role.
Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces had struck vessels used to transport military cargo involving Iran in the Caspian Sea. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) also said one of the targeted vessels had been carrying military supplies between Iran and Russia.
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Araghchi accused Ukraine of attacking an Iranian commercial vessel “at Israel’s behest” in an effort to draw Europe into the conflict. He offered no evidence supporting the allegation.
In a post on X, the Iranian foreign minister called Zelensky a “freeloader” and described the attack as a violation of the United Nations Charter. Araghchi said he had discussed the incident with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
During those conversations, Araghchi said, he made clear that Ukraine’s action “cannot go unanswered.”
Lavrov expressed condolences to Iran and said authorities in Russia’s Astrakhan region, where the vessel had reportedly departed from, provided assistance to its crew.
Tehran, meanwhile, denied involvement in Russia’s war against Ukraine, saying Iran had “never intervened” in the conflict.
Zelensky rejected that position, pointing to Iran’s provision of Shahed drones and related production technology to Russia.
Russia has used large numbers of Iranian-designed Shahed attack drones against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure since 2022. Moscow subsequently established domestic production of Shahed-type drones under the name Geran.
Last November Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) said Russia was trialing Iran’s Shahed-107 in Ukraine, using the battlefield to gauge its performance against Western defenses.
Zelensky said Ukraine should avoid actions that could open an additional front but must also acknowledge the military support Russia has received from Iran and North Korea.
“We must be careful. We must do everything to ensure that under no circumstances do we open a new front, but we must be honest. The Iranians and the North Koreans have already attacked us.”
Zelensky said he hoped the two countries would not expand their involvement but warned that Ukraine must prepare for any development.
“We have to be ready for everything. Just be ready and understand that we cannot trust these people.”
The president said both countries had supplied Russia with weapons without any preceding Ukrainian escalation against them.
“At the very beginning, without any statements or any escalation on our part, the Iranians provided weapons, the North Koreans provided weapons – drones, missiles and 155mm artillery shells,” Zelensky said.
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