Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that he wants to avoid opening a “new front” after Ukraine’s military struck an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea on Saturday.
“We have to be careful. We have to do everything we can to not open a new front in any way,” Zelenskyy told Britain’s Sky News on Monday. “But we have to be honest: the Iranians and the North Koreans have already attacked us.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Ukrainian diplomatic representative in Tehran on Saturday to condemn the Ukrainian attack on an Iranian ship, which the ministry said killed one sailor and wounded another.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that the attack “cannot go unanswered.”
Ukraine’s security services said the target was “cargo ships that are subject to international sanctions and were used to transport military cargo between Iran and Russia.”
Zelenskyy alluded to the attacks in a social media post, reporting “very good results from long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea.”
Iran has supported Russia’s war in Ukraine, selling drones including the Shahed-136 to Moscow. Russia has also been accused by U.S. officials of providing intelligence to Iran throughout the war launched jointly by the United States and Israel on Feb. 28, including targeting data on U.S. positions in the Middle East.
Zelenskyy warned Saturday that Russia could be increasing its support for Iran, and he promised to share evidence with the U.S.
“Since the beginning of July, we have recorded active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and U.S. military facilities located there,” Zelenskyy said on X. “These images subsequently appear in Iran. At the same time, there is a clear correlation between Russia’s satellite imagery of these sites and Iranian strikes — both before the attacks, in preparation for them, and afterward, to assess the damage inflicted.”
Zelenskyy is expected to visit Washington this week, though neither his travel, nor a possible meeting with President Trump, have been confirmed.
