Ukraine swatting down Russia’s much-feared Iran-supplied drones

There seems to be disagreement on a new element in the war between Ukraine and the invading Russian army. While some media reports in recent weeks have sounded alarms about the punishing potential of Iran’s drones being deployed by Russia for strikes in Ukraine, US officials have shrugged off the craft as rather rinky-dink contraptions prone to dysfunction, and of only limited concern.

Given the conspicuous role of perception-influencing propaganda in the conflict, clashing views of how the reputedly formidable Iranian drones have been performing isn’t surprising. Solicited from Teheran by Moscow over the summer as Russia’s own aerial assets began running short, Iran-supplied Shadeed-136 drones initially worried US officials, who said what little was known about the UAVs suggested they might be capable of halting Ukraine’s stunning counter-offensive that has recaptured huge swaths of territory in the east of the nation. 

Echoes of that fretting…