Russia to build Iran-designed drones

Russia is to start manufacturing its own Iranian-designed kamikaze drones under a deal with Tehran that will boost its ability to further cripple Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

United States intelligence agencies say Russian officials have signed an agreement for Iran to provide key components and know-how for the weapons and Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s security council, visited Tehran on November 9.

“It is proceeding quickly from decision-making to implementation,” the Washington Post quoted one Western security official as saying of the deal. Iran is sending designs and materials to Russian weapons producers so that they can begin to make drones within months.

Separately, Mykhailo Podolyak, one of Ukraine’s chief negotiators, said that despite pressure from the US his country had no intention of negotiating with Moscow. Podolyak said that it would be bizarre to start negotiating with the Kremlin after Ukraine had achieved a series of battlefield victories that routed

Russian forces from outside Kharkiv and from the city of Kherson.

— Telegraph Group Ltd