Politico: US shipping some unannounced weapons secretly
3 Min Read
It seems Washington is providing Ukraine with more weapons than what the administration has publicly announced.
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Ukrainian soldiers in the Donbass region
According to Politico, the US has been shipping and delivering more weapons than declared to Ukraine.
Last Friday, a high-ranking Pentagon representative affirmed during a briefing that the US has been shipping HARM anti-radar missiles (that are used for targeting radar systems) to Ukraine without actually announcing it publicly.
"When we first announced the initial provision of HARM missiles, the way that we characterized it in the announcement was not specific. We described that we were providing a counter-radar capability," the official said.
Politico, however, added in their report: "If true — and it’s not clear that it is — that would go against what the administration has said publicly."
Unlimited 'aid' packages
In addition, Politico’s sources also said that the new package of military aid to Kiev announced last week also includes Excalibur guided artillery shells, a GPS-guided and extended-range weapon - a matter not mentioned separately in the Pentagon’s official announcement. Furthermore, Politico obtained the official notification that the US Administration handed over to Congress in regards to the recent aid package.
In May of this year, $40 billion was sent to Ukraine, then in June, the US sent arm supplies in the amount of $450 million, followed by another weapons package of $1 billion at the beginning of this month.
According to the report, this document mentions that the weapons sent to Ukraine are not "limited" to what’s featured in the notification. "We admit this is all speculation. No member of the administration confirmed or even hinted that there were secret shipments of weapons to Ukraine. Even if there were, there’s little to no chance they’d share a classified decision with us," Politico says.
In July, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the Aspen Security Forum that sending those missiles would further provoke Russia and potentially instigate World War III. Ukraine has also been receiving weapons from Germany that Germany doesn't even sufficiently own, as was confirmed most recently by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with the anticipated shipment to be delivered in November, according to reports.
Interestingly, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu previously said the arms supplied by the West to Ukraine were ending up on the black market and spreading across West Asia. Even Kiev's policy of arming civilians and paramilitary organizations to repel Russian soldiers has already had unintended repercussions, with stories of gang warfare, looting, and extrajudicial killings emerging from Ukraine since the conflict began.
