Criminals Stole Some Western Weapons Supplied to Ukraine in 2022 – Pentagon Report

US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said earlier this year that the West is aware that weaponry it had supplied to Ukraine is being sold on the black market.

Some of the Western-provided weapons and equipment intended for Ukrainian troops was stolen by arms traffickers, criminals, and volunteer fighters before being recovered last year, a US military news outlet that obtained a Pentagon report has claimed.

The outlet singled out the Pentagon inspector general (IG) report, which was gained through a Freedom of Information Act request and which examined the period between February 2022 and September 2022.

The report, titled “DoD [US Department of Defense]’s Accountability of Equipment Provided to Ukraine,” showed that American military forces had failed to monitor where much of the military equipment being sent into Ukraine was ending up, suggesting that some gear had fallen into the hands of criminal groups.

According to the document, the US Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) in Kiev “was unable to conduct required [end-use monitoring] of military equipment that the United States provided to Ukraine in FY 2022.”

The report added that “the inability of DoD personnel to visit areas where equipment provided to Ukraine was being used or stored significantly hampered ODC-Kiev’s ability to execute” the monitoring.

The document argued that after the beginning of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, the Pentagon’s ability to track and monitor all of the US military equipment delivered to Kiev, as required by law under the Arms Export Control Act, faced “challenges” due to the limited American presence in Ukraine.

The report does not specify whether the weapons and equipment that were stolen were American, some examples are outlined in a highly redacted section of the document that deals with Ukrainian tracking of US-provided arms, according to the US media outlet.

Last year, the US delivered a wide array of weapons to Ukraine, including Stinger and Javelin missiles, howitzers, grenade launchers, as well as millions of rounds of small-arms ammunition. In addition, more advanced systems included National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), newly developed Phoenix Ghost drones and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

in late April, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh told Russian media that the West knows the weapons they deliver to Ukraine are being sold on the black market, something that he said mainstream media has tried to hush up.

The Pulitzer Prize-winner added that “very early, Poland, Romania, [and] other countries on the border were being flooded with weapons” that Western countries had been shipping to Ukraine.

“In other words, commanders of various […] levels – often they were generals or colonels and others - were given with shipments of some weapons [and] personally [they] re-sold or retailed them back to the black or dark market,” Hersh stressed. According to the journalist, the weapons included “hand missile guns” designed to down a warplane flying “at a considerable height.”

Russia's Concerns

Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov earlier told reporters that Moscow has “serious concerns” that part of the US military supplies sent to Ukraine would end up on the black market.

“Where will weapons pop up? Who will bear responsibility when the materiel falls into the hands of some terrorist groups and criminal organizations?" Antonov said, adding that such a policy jeopardizes the security of the all Europe and increases the risk of a direct clash between Russia and NATO.

He was echoed by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who said that part of the weapons supplied by the West to Ukraine are already spreading across the Middle East region.

The US and its allies ramped up their arms supplies to Kiev shortly after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly warned that the West’s military assistance to Kiev would prolong the Ukraine conflict and make Western countries direct parties to the standoff, thereby confirming accusations that NATO is waging a proxy war against Moscow.