Iran’s diplomatic presence in Ukraine will be ‘substantially reduced’

Kiev declared that it had decided to reduce Iran’s diplomatic presence in Ukraine rather than allow Russia, a rival nation, to continue arming Iran.

According to the Ukrainian foreign ministry, the interim charge d’affaires of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Ukraine was called.

It was explained to the envoy that arming Russian forces with Iranian weapons ‘clearly opposes the position of neutrality, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine’ and ‘deals a major injury to relations between Ukraine and Iran,’ according to a ministry statement.

‘In response to such an unfriendly act, the Ukrainian side decided to deprive the ambassador of Iran in Ukraine of accreditation, as well as to significantly reduce the number of diplomatic personnel of the Iranian embassy in Kyiv,’ the ministry said.

According to Kyiv, Ukrainian military shot down an Iranian-designed unmanned vehicle earlier on Friday, while a Russian drone strike on the southern port city of Odessa resulted in the death of one civilian.

The spokesperson for President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the use of weapons built in Iran by Russian troops ‘are acts perpetrated by Iran against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state.’

Later on Friday, the Ukrainian military announced that four drones made in Iran had been shot down during the day in the country’s south.