Official sources in Ukraine said that "Russia has temporarily stopped using Iran-made drones" on Tuesday, according to Business Insider.
According to the report, Russia stopped using the drones because they cannot stand the cold of the Ukrainian winter.
The report said that Ukrainian sources claimed that Russia hasn't used an Iran-made drone since November 17, the first day it began to snow in Ukraine, and the weather sank below zero degrees. Speaker of the Joint Forces Command for Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yevgeny Silkin said that "the plastic materials and other materials [used in the drones] cannot stand the freezing climate in Ukraine."
Iran admits to giving Russia drones
In November, Iran admitted for the first time that it transferred a "limited amount" of drones to Russia before it invaded Ukraine, but warned that it would "react" if it found out that Moscow had used the drones in Ukraine. The Iranian foreign minister claimed that "our stance on the war in Ukraine is the end of the war, returning both sides to negotiations and the return of refugees to their home."
He also said that "Iran settled to speak with the Ukrainian foreign minister so that he could supply it with evidence for the Russian use of Tehran-made missiles in the Ukrainian territory, but due to pressure from the US and Germany, the discussion hasn't happened yet."
At the same time, the Washington Post reported that after continuous Russian attacks in Ukraine using Iranian-made drones, Moscow came to a secret agreement with Tehran in which Iran would begin to make hundreds of drones on Russian land.
According to the report, Russian and Iranian officials settled the deal during a meeting in Iran at the beginning of November, and the two countries are working fast to transfer designs and central components that can begin manufacturing within two months. The deal, if it is completely seen through, will represent a further deepening of the Russian-Iranian alliance that has already supplied crucial support to Russia's faltering military campaign in Iran.