European-made components in Russian drones that hit Ukraine. A remote-controlled aircraft shot down over Mykolaiv last night was made up of parts from Western and Asian countries. This was denounced by the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak. The drone is one of four drones shot down over Mykolaiv in the early hours of July 18. Yermak posted a picture of the Iranian-made Shahed drone’s engine on Telegram with the inscription “Made in Ireland” on the carburetor.
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“The first photo shows the carburetor of a foreign engine of an Iranian UAV that attacked Mykolaiv at night. The carburetor and hundreds of other parts are manufactured in western countries and in Asia. Russians often delete serial numbers in third-party components. In the second photo there is a detail with a deleted number,” explains the officer. Yermak called for new sanctions and tightened controls: “If the new ‘Shahed’ and missiles now have Western or Asian components, there aren’t enough restrictions. Even the manufacturing companies cannot accept their components being included in weapons that kill people.”
Meanwhile, there is a new “close contact” between Russian and US planes over the skies over Syria. On Sunday, a Su-35 fighter jet from Moscow came dangerously close to a US MC-12 reconnaissance plane conducting a surveillance operation on IS positions. This was reported to the Associated Press by official US sources. The four crew members of the US plane were forced into a diversionary maneuver to continue their flight safely. The incident is just the latest in a series of similar incidents that have occurred in Syria or the Black Sea between Russian warplanes and US planes or drones.