Ukraine war: Iran ‘sends hundreds of missiles to Russia’ in ‘dramatic escalation’
Iran is believed to have sent more than 200 ballistic missiles to Russia – a move security chiefs say would be a “dramatic escalation” of its defence partnership with Moscow.
A Russian ship delivered the short-range Fatah-360 missiles from Tehran to a port in the Caspian Sea, a Ukrainian source told Sky News on Saturday.
Ukraine and its allies in the West have long feared that Iran has been supplying Russia with ballistic missiles.
Recap today’s developments in Ukraine with our blog
So far it has supplied Vladimir Putin‘s forces with large quantities of attack drones – as well as artillery shells and ammunition.
But speaking at an event in London, CIA director Bill Burns said: “Should Iran ship ballistic missiles… it would be a dramatic escalation of the nature of the defence partnership.”
Mr Burns also stressed how the Russia-Ukraine conflict demonstrates the impact of technology on the battlefield.
He and his UK counterpart, MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore accused Russia of a “reckless campaign of sabotage” in the unprecedented joint event on Saturday.
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Meanwhile, military analyst Sean Bell said of the reported missile delivery: “It will mean Russia’s limited supply of its own Iskander missiles can now be focused on long-range targets – that’s very worrying.”
He added: “We [also] understand that Russian soldiers have been in Iran doing training for the last few weeks.”
Drone attacks on 11 Ukrainian regions
Meanwhile, in Ukraine overnight, dozens of drones were shot down across the country.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, 67 drones were used across 11 regions, including Kyiv.
Search lights during a drone attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Saturday. Pic: Reuters
Fifty-eight of them were shot down with electronic weapons systems, they said.
The remnants of a kamikaze drone were seen outside the Ukrainian parliament building in central Kyiv on Saturday.
But the Ukrainian parliamentary press service said there had been no casualties and no damage to the building.
Remnants of a Russian kamikaze drone on the steps of the Ukrainian parliament building in Kyiv on Saturday. Pic: Reuters
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Elsewhere, three men were killed and three people injured in an artillery attack on the eastern city of Kostiantynivka.
Donetsk region governor Vadym Filashkin said the attack also damaged a high-rise building and local power lines.
It came after a week of long-range Russian attacks, including the missile strike on a military academy and hospital in Poltava, which killed 55 people and injured 328 others.
The funerals for some of the victims took place in the city on Saturday.
Mourners at Saturday’s funeral for those killed in a Russian attack on Poltava this week. Pic: AP
Meanwhile, Kyiv continued to launch its own strikes against Russia.
In the Russian border region of Voronezh, governor Aleksandr Gusev said that a drone strike started a fire and the detonation of “explosive objects” on Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Israeli Air Force is regarded as one of the country’s most elite units.
So, when hundreds of current and former pilots call for an end to the war in Gaza to get the hostages out, Israelis take notice.
This month, 1,200 pilots caused a storm by signing an open letter arguing the war served mainly “political and personal interests and not security ones”.
The pilots’ protest letter
Part of the letter translated
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the original letter was written by “bad apples”.
But Guy Paron, a former pilot and one of those behind the letter, said the Israeli government had failed to move to phase two of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, brokered under US President Donald Trump.
That deal called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu continues to argue that the war must continue to put pressure on Hamas.
Mr Paron said the (Israeli) government “gave up or violated a signed agreement with Hamas” and “threw it to the trash”.
“You have to finish the deal, release the hostages, even if it means stopping that war,” he argued.
It’s not the first time Israeli pilots have taken up a cause. Many of them also campaigned against Mr Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reforms.
“In this country, 1,000 Israeli Air Force pilots carry a lot of weight,” Mr Paron added.
“The Air Force historically has been the major force and game-changer in all of Israel’s wars, including this current one. The strength of the Air Force is the public’s guarantee of security.”
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Anti-government campaign spreads
Now, the open letter campaign has spread to other parts of the military.
More than 15,000 people have signed, including paratroopers, armoured corps, navy, special units, cyber and medics. The list goes on.
Dr Ofer Havakuk has served 200 days during this war as a combat doctor, mostly in Gaza, and believes the government is continuing the war to stay in power.
He has also signed an open letter supporting the pilots and accused the prime minister of putting politics first.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the authors of the original letter as ‘bad apples’. Pic: AP
He said Mr Netanyahu “wants to keep his coalition working and to keep the coalition together. For him, this is the main purpose of the war”.
A ceasefire could lead to the collapse of the prime minister’s fragile far-right coalition, which is opposed to ending the war.
Threat of dismissal
The Israeli military has threatened to dismiss those who have signed protest letters.
We met a former pilot who is still an active reservist. He didn’t want to be identified and is worried he could lose his job.
“This is a price that I’m willing to pay, although it is very big for me because I’m volunteering and, as a volunteer, I want to stay on duty for as long as I can,” he told us.
The controversy over the war and the hostages is gaining momentum inside Israel’s military.
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It is also exposing deep divisions in society at a time when there is no clear sign about how the government plans to end the war in Gaza, or when.
The renewed war in Gaza over the last year and a half followed deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage.
More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli military’s response, many of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
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