Iran has sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, according to US and European officials, despite sharp warnings from Washington and its allies not to provide those precise armaments to Moscow to use against targets in Ukraine.

The new missiles are expected to help Russia further its efforts to destroy Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, which President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said this week now involved 4,000 bombs a month across the country.

The US and European officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed that after months of warnings about sanctions, Iran has shipped several hundred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia. The delivery was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Iran denied providing the weapons in a statement released on Friday by its permanent mission to the UN and said its position on the war in Ukraine was unchanged.

“Iran considers the provision of military assistance to the parties engaged in the conflict — which leads to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and a distancing from ceasefire negotiations — to be inhumane,” the statement said. “Thus, not only does Iran abstain from engaging in such actions itself, but it also calls upon other countries to cease the supply of weapons to the sides involved in the conflict.”

Now the question is how Washington and the West will react, a senior European official said.

With the American presidential campaign in full swing and President Joe Biden a lame duck, the official said, it was not clear how strong Washington’s response would be.

Biden has refused Zelensky’s repeated requests to send Ukraine longer-range missiles that can attack airfields in Russia. From those sites, Russia can attack Ukraine with heavy bombs equipped with fins to glide and GPS packs to ensure accuracy. Ukraine currently does not have missiles with enough range to reach those airfields.

Zelensky on Friday went to the Ukraine Contact Group meeting in Ramstein, Germany, to ask for such weapons, and later in the evening, he repeated his plea at a major conference on Europe in Cernobbio, Italy.

In those remarks, he pleaded for “air defences to defend ourselves.” He said that Ukraine would not use any longer-range missiles against civilian targets.

New York Times News Service