Kiev announced that it has chosen to decrease Iran’s diplomatic representation in Ukraine over the country’s adversary Russia supplying arms to Iran.
The temporary charge d’affaires of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Ukraine was called, according to the foreign ministry of Ukraine.
According to a ministry statement, the envoy was informed that providing Russian forces with Iranian weapons “directly contradicts the position of neutrality, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine” and is “an unfriendly act that deals a serious blow to relations between Ukraine and Iran.”
“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.
Ukrainian soldiers shot down an Iranian-designed unmanned vehicle earlier on Friday, according to Kyiv, while one civilian was killed during a Russian drone strike on the southern port city of Odessa.
Also read | Death of young Iranian woman puts spotlight on morality police
The use of Iranian-made weaponry by Russian troops, according to the spokesperson for President Volodymyr Zelensky, “are acts committed by Iran against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state.”
Later on Friday, the armed forces of Ukraine reported that four drones of Iranian manufacture had been brought down during the day in the south of the nation.
(With inputs from agencies)
WATCH WION LIVE HERE:
