Iran contacts Ukraine’s envoy about its senior aide’s remarks about the drone attack

Iran has summoned Ukraine’s charge d’affaires to protest “biased” remarks made by a presidential aide in Kyiv regarding a drone strike in Iran, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said.

Mykhailo Podolak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, linked Iran’s support for Russia’s invasion of his country in a tweet on Sunday to the night strike on a military site.

“An explosive night in Iran – the production of drones, missiles and oil refineries,” he said. “The Logic of War… places a stern bill on authors and accomplices.”

“Ukraine warned you,” Podolak added.

Iran’s foreign ministry said the Ukrainian charge d’affaires in Tehran had been summoned to provide “an official and immediate explanation from the Ukrainian government”.

She described Podolak’s remarks as “strange and biased,” adding in a statement that she hopes “such situations will not be repeated.”

Iranian authorities reported a “botched” drone attack late Saturday night targeting a Defense Ministry “workshop complex” in the central province of Isfahan, home to the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.

The Ministry of Defense said that an anti-aircraft system destroyed a drone and two other aircraft exploded, adding that there were no injuries and minor damage to the site.

Dramatic video footage circulated widely on social media and released by Iranian state media showed a fireball lighting up the night sky, as people were seen outside running and emergency services vehicles heading towards the site.

Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Iran of supplying military drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine, a claim Tehran denies.