Iranian missiles in Russia are a legitimate target, a Ukrainian official says

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A senior Ukrainian official said Monday that Western partner countries must allow Ukraine to use weapons they have supplied to strike military warehouses inside Russia because of strong suspicions Iran has provided ballistic missiles for the Kremlin’s war effort.

The United States has told allies it believes Iran has sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press at the weekend.

Western countries supporting Ukraine in the war have hesitated to let its military strike targets on Russian soil, fearing they could be sucked into Europe's biggest conflict since World War II, but the head of the Ukrainian presidential office said “protection is not escalation.”

“In response to the supply of ballistic missiles to Russia, Ukraine must be allowed to destroy warehouses storing these missiles with Western weapons in order to avoid terror,” Andrii Yermak said on his Telegram channel. He did not specify which country was supplying the missiles.

Russia has already subjected Ukraine to repeated and devastating long-range missile and drone bombardments that have killed more than 10,000 civilians since the start of the war in February 2022, according to a United Nations tally. The barrages have also crippled electricity production.

Ukraine has refused to cave in, however, and recently launched a bold incursion into Russia’s Kursk region even while toiling to hold back a Russian push in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

Russia has been receiving Iranian-made Shahed drones since 2022. The possible shipment of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia as well has alarmed Western governments as President Vladimir Putin reaches out to other countries to provide him with support.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said of the Iranian missile reports that “this kind of information is not true every time.”

He added, however: “Iran is our important partner. We are developing our trade and economic relations. We are developing our cooperation and dialogue in all possible areas, including the most sensitive ones, and will continue to do so in the interests of the peoples of our two countries.”

In Iran, foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani denied Tehran armed Russia with missiles.

“We strongly reject allegations about Iran’s role in sending weapons to one side of the war and we assess these allegations as politically motivated by some parties,” Kanaani said.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Saturday expressed “deep concern” about that possibility.

“Iran must completely and definitively stop providing weapons to Russia in order to prove with actions, not words, the sincerity of its political leadership’s statements about non-involvement in fueling the Russian war machine of death,” a statement said.

CIA Director William Burns warned in London at the weekend of the growing and “troubling” defense relationship involving Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Those ties, he said, threaten both Ukraine and Western allies in the Middle East.

China’s Defense Ministry on Monday announced joint naval and air drills with Russia starting this month.

While China has not directly provided Russia with arms, it has become a vital economic lifeline as a leading customer for Russian oil and gas. It has also supplied electronics and other items with both civilian and military uses.

AP journalist Jon Gambrell contributed from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian air defense intercepts a Shahed drone mid-air during a Russia aerial attack on the capital in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Iranian missiles in Russia are a legitimate target, a Ukrainian official says

Iranian missiles in Russia are a legitimate target, a Ukrainian official says

Ukrainian air defense intercepts a Shahed drone mid-air during a Russia aerial attack on the capital in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Hanukkah — also spelled Chanukah or other transliterations from Hebrew — is Judaism’s “festival of lights.” On eight consecutive nightfalls, Jews gather with family and friends to light one additional candle in the menorah — a multibranched candelabra.

In Hebrew, Hanukkah means “dedication,” and the holiday marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BC, after a small group of Jewish fighters liberated it from occupying foreign forces.

With the tiny supply of ritually pure oil that they found in the temple, they lit the menorah — and it stayed lit for eight days. The ritual of lighting a nightly candle, as well as the emphasis on cooking foods in oil such as potato pancakes called latkes, memorialize this miraculously long-lasting oil.

The dates of the holiday are based on Hebrew month of Kislev, which usually coincides with November-December in the Gregorian calendar.

This year, Hanukkah will be celebrated from Dec. 25, 2024, through Jan. 2, 2025.

Jews across the religious observance spectrum — from Reform to Conservative to Orthodox — focus on the same theme of bringing light into the darkness and emphasizing that even a small, against-the-odds effort can have a transforming effect.

For this reason, even though the Talmud reflects a dispute over the order of lighting, most start with one candle and increase the lighting by one more candle each night while reciting or chanting special blessings.

The candles are added from right to left, but lit from left to right on the menorah, thus always starting with the newest light. The special menorah used for Hanukkah has eight branches, with a ninth place for the candle called shamash from which all others are lit.

The tradition calls for candles with a real flame, though some also use electric ones in public displays, such as in hospitals, for safety reasons.

A menorah is lit in each household and traditionally is placed where it can be seen from the outside, such as a doorway or windowsill, to symbolize the spreading of God’s light to all nations.

The lighting of menorahs in city streets and parks has become more prominent in recent years in countries around the world, including in front of public landmarks.

In addition to menorah lightings, giving to charity and social works are also part of the celebration for many, reflecting the belief that the Jewish people are called by God to help make the world better for all.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Rabbi Peter Tarlow lights a candle on a menorah during a Chicanukah event at Holocaust Museum Houston on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)