Iran regrets Ukraine's downgrading of ties over drones

Iran regrets Ukraine's decision to downgrade ties over the reported supply of Iranian drones to Russia, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Saturday.

Nasser Kanaani said Ukraine should "refrain from being influenced by third parties who seek to destroy relations between the two countries", a ministry statement said, Reuters reports.

Ukraine said on Friday that it would downgrade diplomatic ties with Iran over Tehran's decision to supply Russian forces with drones, a move President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called "a collaboration with evil".

Kanaani said Ukraine's decision was "based on unconfirmed reports and resulted from a media hype by foreign parties".

These included - for the first time in Ukraine - a Mohajer-6, a larger Iranian drone, the southern military command said.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in an English language tweet on Saturday that Iran was supporting Russia "by giving modern drones to (a) backward country for the murders of Ukrainians".