- Russia said on Wednesday that it shot down an enemy drone, but it was likely a friendly fire incident.
- A photo of the wreckage, posted by a Russia-backed official, resembles the Iranian Mohajer-6 drone.
- Ukrainian officials are celebrating the drone’s destruction as an embarrassing Russian mix-up.
Russia said on Wednesday that it had downed a Ukrainian drone over Crimea, but the equipment appears to, in fact, be Russian.
“In the eastern part of Crimea, an enemy UAV was jammed and landed by means of electronic warfare,” announced Sergey Aksyonov, the head of the annexed Crimea, on his Telegram channel. “There were no casualties or damage.”
Aksyonov posted a photo of debris from the destroyed drone. The wreckage closely resembles the wing of a Mohajer-6 drone, which Iran manufactures, and Russia uses in the war.
International analysts such as Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, have pointed out striking similarities between footage of the drone and the debris in the photo.
—Rob Lee (@RALee85) June 6, 2023
Ukrainian Internal Affairs advisor Anton Gerashchenko tweeted about the apparent friendly fire incident in celebration.
“So-called ‘head’ of Crimea claimed yesterday that a ‘Ukrainian army’ drone was taken down in Crimea and posted a photo,” he wrote. “It seems they took down their own Iranian Mohajer-6 drone. Good job!”
Russian Telegram channels posted footage of a flying object bursting into flames on Wednesday, saying it showed the drone being shot down. While the shape of the object appears to resemble that of a Mohajer-6 drone, Insider could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Russia’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
