Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed Russia is mapping US assets in the Middle East – in alliance with Iran which helped blow up a £700million spy plane.
Citing Ukrainian intelligence, the president accused the Kremlin of sharing satellite images ahead of the Iranian bombing of a US base in Saudi Arabia.
“this morningI was told that photographs of US military facilities in the Middle East and the Gulf region were taken by Russian satellites iran,” he wrote on X.
“On March 25, they took pictures Prince at Sultan Air Base saudi arabia“
At least 12 US personnel were injured, two of them seriously, by Iran’s barrage of ballistic missiles and drones.
Photos also showed the damaged aircraft – a US Air Force E-3 Sentry – on the ground.
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Its tail appears separated from the rest of its body, and its rotating radar dome has been destroyed.
The aircraft is part of the U.S. military’s Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS, and allows surveillance of a 120,000-square-mile battlefield from the ground to the stratosphere.
It can track about 600 targets at any time, ranging from other aircraft, to missiles, to large drones, even tanks.
Its destruction is being seen as a major blow to US surveillance capabilities in the region.
Former US Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, who has flown the plane, told CNN that this could affect “the ability to control fighters and lead them to their targets or protect them from hostile aircraft and missile systems.”
He said: “Extraordinary measures are often taken to protect it from enemy fire during flight.
“Sometimes it gets fighter escorts and to keep it safe it is never allowed to fly over enemy territory.”
Meanwhile, the base – a joint Saudi-US installation about 60 miles from Riyadh – had already been hit twice in the week before.
Zelensky further warned that Russian satellites destroyed a secret US-UK joint military facility on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago.
The island, which is administered from London, was a vital, high-volume launchpad for US air campaigns in the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War.
On March 20, Iran fired two long-range ballistic missiles at the base – but ultimately failed to reach it.
Kuwait International Airport and parts of the Greater Bergen oil field infrastructure, as well as the Shaybah oil and gas facility in Saudi Arabia, and Incirlik Air Base in Turkiye have all fallen victim to the Kremlin’s spying eyes, Zelensky said.
“There are no Ukrainian facilities on this list,” he said. “But who is helping whom when sanctions are lifted from an attacker who earns daily revenue and provides intelligence strikes Against American, Middle Eastern, UK and US-UK targets and so on?
Britain’s Defense Ministry previously warned it was “highly likely” the Kremlin shared intelligence with Iran before the war began – but the co-operation appears to be deepening.
Zelensky’s accusation echoes those of top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas, who last week accused Russia of providing intelligence to Iran.
“We see that Russia is helping Iran with intelligence Target Americans, to kill Americans,” he told reporters when G7 foreign ministers met south of Paris.
“Russia is also now supporting Iran through drones so that they can attack neighboring countries and US military bases as well.”
It comes after The Sun revealed the Kremlin was sharing the locations of vital US radars with Iran using satellite intelligence.
“Only a large fleet of high orbit spy satellites such as RussiaTHAAD could direct those precise attacks on batteries and radar networks,” an insider told us.
