Ukraine to strike Iran's drones: 50,000 drones already destroyed at home - RFU News

[TexasTowelie]

Today, there is interesting news from the Middle East.

Here, Iran’s worst nightmare came true as Ukraine announced its readiness to enter the war and help its Western allies. With 50,000 Iranian drones already destroyed at home, Ukraine is now stepping directly into confrontation with the most dangerous weapon against Tehran, its experience.

Recently, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered to send Ukraine’s best drone-interception specialists to Gulf nations who are now facing constant Iranian Shahed barrages in exchange for pressure on Russia. No country understands these systems better than Ukraine, as since 2022, tens of thousands of Iranian-designed drones have rained down on Ukrainian cities, power stations, and military targets. Now, as Iranian drones strike the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, and US bases across the region, Kyiv is offering what it has painfully mastered: how to shoot them down efficiently. Even UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed that Ukrainian experts would assist Gulf allies with guidance on countering Iranian drones, with battlefield knowledge forged under four years of continuous Russian saturation attacks.

Ukraine’s motivation is strategic and direct, as Iran’s supply of Shahed drones to Russia, initially through shipments and later through localized Russian production, has enabled Moscow to launch thousands of Shahed-type drones since the full-scale invasion began. In 2025 alone, up to 5,000 drones per month were launched in peak periods alongside missile barrages, exhausting Ukrainian air defense ammunition, forcing costly intercepts, and imposing daily pressure on infrastructure.

Iran’s doctrine relies on cheap, mass-produced drones costing roughly 35,000 US dollars each, designed to force defenders to spend interceptors worth between a hundred thousand and 1 million US dollars each in response. Through this, the 2,000 kilometer range and swarm tactics of the Shahed drones can easily overwhelm radars and air defense networks unfamiliar with sustained drone warfare. Yet, what was tested in Ukraine can now be exported to the Gulf, as Zelensky made the linkage explicit. If Gulf leaders leverage their relations with Russia to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine, Kyiv would even deploy its own experienced drone-interception operators on the ground to assist in protecting civilians in the Middle East. The offer is strategic, and if pressure on Ukraine is reduced, the country will help neutralize Iran’s asymmetric tool elsewhere.

Outside of Gulf-state aid in the negotiations, helping intercept Iranian drones abroad directly weakens Russia’s war machine. Ukraine has achieved an approximately 90% interception rate through its layered defenses, combining radar cueing, acoustic detection networks, electronic warfare jamming, mobile machine-gun teams, Manpads, and increasingly low-cost interceptor drones together in an impressively strong network. By sharing these methods, Kyiv degrades the global effectiveness of the Shahed design, as the more countries learn to destroy them cheaply, the less strategic value they provide to both Tehran and Moscow.

For Iran, this is a nightmare scenario, as Ukraine possesses unmatched large-scale combat experience against Shaheds and refined cost-effective methods that avoid wasting high-value missiles on low-cost drones. Iran’s strategy depends heavily on the psychological and economic shock of initial swarm strikes against unprepared opponents, as Shaheds are most effective when defenders lack real-world exposure; so if Gulf states adopt the Ukrainian doctrine, the asymmetric advantage collapses.

Moreover, Ukraine has not faced only the original Iranian models, but also upgraded Russian-modified variants. While Iranian Shahed drones fly at roughly 185 kilometers per hour, Russian jet-powered variants reportedly reach up to 500 kilometers per hour. Russian upgrades include AI retargeting, satellite navigation, in-flight control, expanded antenna arrays to resist jamming, dark paint coatings for night missions, and heavier warheads reaching 80 to 90 kilograms compared to the Iranians’ 50.

For example, recently recovered Iranian Shahed debris in Cyprus revealed only four antennas, while Russian variants often integrate up to eight to overcome electronic warfare. Yet Ukraine has downed more than 57,000 of these drones since 2022, including the more advanced Russian versions.

[Wonder Why]

1. He should refuse to help Krasnov until he admits being a Russian mole and publicly grovel & beg

Zelenskyy's forgiveness.