LONDON:Iran has covertly supplied Russia with millions of bullets and hundreds of thousands of shells to fuel its war in Ukraine, Sky News reported on Wednesday.
A security source told the channel that two Russian-flagged vessels in January traveled across the Caspian Sea from Iran to Russia carrying about 100 million bullets and 300,000 artillery shells, as well as rockets, mortar ammunition, kevlar vests and helmets.
The Russian side paid for the ammunition with cash, the source said, adding: “Russia continues to use Iran as a ‘rear base’.”
It follows news that last year, Tehran supplied Moscow with thousands of armed drones, which have been used in Ukraine.
The owner of the two vessels — named the Musa Jalil and Begey, according to the Sky News source — was contacted for comment by the channel but did not respond.
The two ships are believed to have carried about 200 containers of ammunition, the source said, adding that they were “confident” in their estimation of the quantity of arms.
“Iran sent two cargo ships to the combat zone in Ukraine, carrying approximately 200 new shipping containers that contained ammunition for the Russian fighting in Ukraine,” the source said.
“Russia pays for the ammunition in cash and by doing so, bypasses the Western sanctions on it, ignoring the sanctions on Iran.”
Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko told Sky News that Iran is “on the wrong side of history” for supplying Russia with the weaponry.
He accused Moscow of turning to a “coalition of weak nations,” including Iran and North Korea, to overcome the difficulties it is facing in its conflict with Kyiv, including major shortages of ammunition.
“We still have to actively pursue the Iranians and the rest of these regimes to stop the supply to Russians to fuel this war in Ukraine,” Prystaiko said.
Iran sends Russia millions of bullets to fuel Ukraine war, source tells Sky News
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Iran sends Russia millions of bullets to fuel Ukraine war, source tells Sky News
- Channel tracks 2 Russian vessels crossing Caspian Sea carrying 200 containers of arms
- Tehran ‘on the wrong side of history’ for supplying weaponry: Ukrainian envoy to UK
UN rights chief Shocked by ‘unbearable’ Darfur atrocities
- Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Nearly three years of war have put the Sudanese people through “hell,” the UN’s rights chief said on Sunday, blasting the vast sums spent on advanced weaponry at the expense of humanitarian aid and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has left tens of thousands of people dead and around 11 million displaced.
Speaking in Port Sudan during his first wartime visit, UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said the population had endured “horror and hell,” calling it “despicable” that funds that “should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population” are instead spent on advanced weapons, particularly drones.
More than 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and two-thirds of Sudan’s population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
In addition to the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, Sudan is also facing “the increasing militarization of society by all parties to the conflict, including through the arming of civilians and recruitment and use of children,” Turk added.
He said he had heard testimony of “unbearable” atrocities from survivors of attacks in Darfur, and warned of similar crimes unfolding in the Kordofan region — the current epicenter of the fighting.
Testimony of these atrocities must be heard by “the commanders of this conflict and those who are arming, funding and profiting from this war,” he said.
Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur.
“We must ensure that the perpetrators of these horrific violations face justice regardless of the affiliation,” Turk said on Sunday, adding that repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute “war crimes.”
He called on both sides to “cease intolerable attacks against civilian objects that are indispensable to the civilian population, including markets, health facilities, schools and shelters.”
Turk again warned on Sunday that crimes similar to those seen in El-Fasher could recur in volatile Kordofan, where the RSF has advanced, besieging and attacking several key cities.
Hundreds of thousands face starvation across the region, where more than 65,000 people have been displaced since October, according to the latest UN figures.
