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Iranian drones (Image published by the Iranian army): Mossad warns of further deliveries to Russia
Photo: AP
More weapons for Russia from Iran?
The Israeli secret service Mossad warns against an increase in Iranian arms deliveries to Russia.
Tehran is secretly planning "to deepen and expand the supply of sophisticated weapons to Russia," Israeli media quoted Mossad boss David Barnea as saying on Thursday.
In addition, Iran wants to expand uranium enrichment.
Tehran admitted in November that it had supplied drones to Russia.
However, the leadership in Iran claimed that this happened before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.
The United States recently warned against a "deepened defense partnership" between Moscow and Tehran.
Iran and Israel have been fighting a shadow war for years.
Israel accuses Iran of wanting to manufacture nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies.
And from North Korea?
North Korea, meanwhile, has denied US accounts that it supplied the Russian mercenary group Wagner with weapons for their deployment in Ukraine.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that no arms deals had ever been made with Russia.
The state news agency quoted from a report that spoke of a "false report" and the "most absurd diversionary tactic".
She was "not worth any comment or interpretation."
The spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, had previously confirmed reports from the news agency Reuters about such arms deliveries.
Last month's delivery included grenades and rockets, Kirby told journalists on Thursday.
This is a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
The US assumed that North Korea "is considering supplying additional equipment".
The Wagner mercenary group is active in several theaters of war around the world and also fights alongside Russia in Ukraine.
Kirby estimates that the group currently has around 50,000 people stationed in Ukraine.
Of these, 10,000 are mercenaries and 40,000 are fighters recruited from Russian prisons.
The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, dismissed the US allegations as “gossip and speculation”.
"Everyone knows that North Korea has long stopped supplying weapons to Russia," President Vladimir Putin's ally said in a statement.
"There has never been such an effort."
Melnyk puts pressure on Germany again
The Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister and former Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, has spoken out in favor of a "European armored alliance" led by the federal government to supply his country with heavy weapons.
He called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) "that he finally reconsidered the restraint, for example, with the Leopard battle tank and the Marder infantry fighting vehicle," Melnyk told the editorial network Germany.
Germany should also supply the Patriot air defense system.
"In our view, the arguments why the tanks are not being delivered to Ukraine are not at all convincing," said Melnyk.
"If the federal government does not want to go it alone in the delivery, then Germany could pursue a leading role on the continent, forge a European tank alliance."
The former Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin called on the federal government to do everything »that helps Ukraine to fend off this Russian attack and to save human lives«.
This must happen "today and not at some point".
According to the Deputy Foreign Minister, in addition to Leopard and Marder tanks, Ukraine still needs German Fuchs and Wiesel armored vehicles and ammunition.
Referring to the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington, Melnyk also spoke out in favor of Germany supplying the Patriot air defense system.
The USA had promised one and massively increased aid to Kyiv overall.
“The Ukrainians hope that Chancellor Scholz and the traffic light coalition will also follow the American example in order to massively increase military support for my homeland without any ifs or buts.
That also includes German Patriot systems,” said Melnyk.
During Zelenskyy's visit to Washington, the United States promised for the first time to deliver a Patriot air defense system as part of a $1.85 billion (around €1.74 billion) aid package.
Kyiv has been pushing for the deployment of this system for weeks in view of the ongoing massive Russian attacks on its infrastructure.
The federal government rejects this.
Instead, two Patriot squadrons were deployed to Slovakia to protect NATO territory.
The system will also be made available in Poland in the near future.