This is one of the Pentagon’s revelations reported by the New York Times at a time when the United States and NATO are considering additional military aid to Ukraine.
Some 40,000 weapons sent by the United States to Ukraine to defend itself against the Russian army have not been tracked, according to a report published on January 11, 2024 by the Pentagon, sent to Congress and picked up by the New York Times. Missiles, kamikaze drones, night-vision devices and heavy weapons may have been stolen and could be feeding the black market in weapons of war. No one knows where they went.
In the hands of terrorists?
These revelations from the US Department of Defense are cause for concern as Washington prepares to deliver a billion dollars’ worth of additional weapons to kyiv.
Arms trafficking specialists fear that this sophisticated equipment could end up in the hands of terrorists, in the Middle East or elsewhere. Armed conflicts are particularly numerous around the globe.
50 billion dollars worth of equipment
“Because of their sensitivity, vulnerability to detour or misuse, and the consequences that follow, it is particularly important to have this additional monitoring and accountability in place,” said Robert P. Storch, the Pentagon’s inspector general, who is also the lead observer of US aid sent to support Ukraine’s war effort.
The number of weapons examined in the report represents only a small fraction of the roughly $50 billion worth of military equipment the US has sent to Ukraine since 2014, when Russia seized Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbass region.
The publication of this worrisome report for world security makes the Americans doubt whether they should send Volodimir Zelensky any more weapons.
10,000 anti-tank missiles
By June last year, the US had supplied Ukraine with almost 10,000 Javelin anti-tank missiles, 2,500 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, around 750 Kamikaze Switchblade drones, 430 medium-range air-to-air missiles and 23,000 night-vision devices. But Pentagon officials have warned that it is impossible for them to keep track of these thousands of weapons, which are lost in the fog of war.
On several occasions, the press, and especially FrenchDailyNews, have alerted the authorities to the fact that weapons delivered by both the USA and Nato are finding their way onto the Net to feed mafia networks. The Darknet has become an online wholesaler of war materiel.
Ukraine has long been known as one of the most corrupt countries on the planet.
A rain of dollars on Ukraine