Poland's Andrzej Duda and Iran's Ebrahim Raisi spoke on the telephone on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The two heads of state “discussed bilateral issues and talked about the current international situation,” Polish officials said afterwards.
During the call, Duda “outlined a very clear stance” about reports that Iran was selling drones to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to the PAP news agency.
“Poland aims to very actively counteract any weapons purchases by Russia,” a Polish presidential official told reporters.
US, allies discuss Iranian drone transfers to Russia at UN Security Council
On Wednesday night, the United States, Britain and France raised the subject of Iran's alleged supplies of UAVs to Russia at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, the Reuters news agency reported.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price told the media afterwards: "We expressed our grave concerns about Russia’s acquisition of these UAVs from Iran. We now have abundant evidence that these UAVs are being used to strike Ukrainian civilians and critical civilian infrastructure."
"We will not hesitate to use our sanctions and other appropriate tools on all involved in these transfers," Price added in a statement.
Ukraine asks UN to examine Iranian ‘kamikaze’ drones
Meanwhile, Ukraine has asked UN experts to examine the Iranian drones that have been shot down over the country while attacking civilian targets, according to PAP.
According to the government in Kyiv, the use of such weapons is in breach of UN Security Council resolution No. 2231 from 2015 on a nuclear agreement between Iran and the West, the PAP news agency reported.
The resolution limits Tehran’s ability to export or buy advanced military technology, including drones. The United States, the UK and France have also said Iran’s delivery of drones to Russia breached the terms of this document, according to Reuters.
Russia uses Iranian-made drones on Ukraine
Russia began to buy Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones from Iran in August, PAP reported.
The Kremlin has been mass-deploying these UAVs on the battlefields of Ukraine since September, using the Shahed-136 to strike civilian targets and critical infrastructure facilities across Ukraine, the Polish news agency said.
On Monday alone, Russia launched dozens of "kamikaze" drones on Ukraine, hitting energy infrastructure and killing five people in the capital Kyiv, the Reuters news agency reported.
According to Ukraine, they were the Iranian-made Shahed-136 loitering munitions - attack drones that cruise towards their target before plummeting at velocity and detonating on impact, news outlets reported.
Ukraine on Tuesday moved to cut ties with Iran, according to Reuters.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a press briefing on Monday: “We also exposed publicly that Russia has received drones from Iran; that this was part of Russia’s plan to import hundreds of Iranian UAVs of various types; and that Russian operators continue to receive training in Iran on how to use these very systems.”
She added: “So, there is extensive proof of their — of their use by Russia against both military and civilian targets there … Yet, Iran continues to lie about this.”
The US State Department has threatened Tehran with sanctions over its drone supplies to Russia, PAP reported.
On October 6, Iran and Russia signed an agreement on the supply of more UAVs and surface-to-surface missiles, the Reuters news agency has reported, citing Iranian sources and Western diplomats.
Thursday is day 239 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl, interia.pl, Reuters, whitehouse.gov