Significant portion of UK lethal aid for Kiev to remain secret: Report

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
1 Apr 2023 15:33
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The UK is suspiciously hiding how a large amount of the billions in weaponry it is sending to Ukraine is being spent, Classified UK reported.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022. (AP)

The UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) has told parliament that “a significant proportion of our lethal aid [for Ukraine] is procured overseas and for both operational and commercial reasons, the contract details will not be revealed,” UK Classified reported.

The declaration fuels speculation that Britain is shipping Ukraine additional controversial weapons that it does not want to be made public.

The UK reportedly supplied munitions to Ukraine last week, according to Declassified, that contained depleted uranium.

Depleted uranium has been used for civil and military purposes for many years, including by the US army and their allies in the 1991 Gulf war and the invasion of Iraq, which resulted in several cases of birth defects and an increase in cancer patients among the Iraqi population.

According to the MoD, the only contracts it will release are those for equipment replacing existing inventories with British companies.

It is unclear which foreign corporations the government has contracts with or what kinds of military systems such contracts are for.

In 2022, the UK gave Ukraine £2.4bn --more military equipment than any other nation other than the US. It has also promised to contribute the same sum in 2023.

The UK has provided Kiev with 10,000 anti-tank weapons, including 5,500 NLAWs, which are done by Saab and French arms manufacturer Thales. The UK has also sent Javelin and Brimstone missiles.

Thousands of surface-to-air missiles, including Thales' Starstreak, have also been provided by the UK as lethal aid to Ukraine.

Chronic lack of transparency

Katie Fallon, advocacy manager at Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), said as quoted by the Classified that “the UK arms export regime is defined by a chronic lack of transparency.”

“That the public might never know how a large part of the weaponry budgeted for Ukraine is being spent, not only raises the risk of corruption, profiteering, and procurement of inappropriate equipment, but it also reduces the ability of the UK public to provide badly needed scrutiny of government actions taken in their name,” Fallon added.

The UK also supplied military systems with the potential to reach Russian territories from bases in Ukraine.

Three M270 long-range multiple-launch rocket systems are also included in UK's lethal supplies to Kiev, and with their 186-mile maximum range, they are capable of inflicting damage to Russian cities.

The UK defense minister, James Heappey, supported Ukraine's use of British-supplied weapons to conduct strikes within Russia in April 2022.

Heappey said it was “completely legitimate for Ukraine to be targeting in Russia’s depth to disrupt the logistics that if they weren’t disrupted would directly contribute to death and carnage on Ukrainian soil”.

The UK will begin giving Ukraine "longer range capabilities" in its upcoming military aid package, according to prime minister Rishi Sunak, to "disrupt Russia's ability to continuously target Ukraine's civilian and critical national infrastructure and help relieve pressure on Ukraine's frontlines."

The largest arms manufacturer in the UK, BAE Systems, received record orders totaling £37.1 billion last year, which it attributed to what it described as an "elevated threat environment" following the war in Ukraine.

Ben Wallace, the UK's defense secretary, reportedly claimed that he had "several meetings" with BAE in 2022. In addition to site visits, he added, "this has included one-on-one discussions and meetings with larger groups, such the Defence Suppliers Forum." In the majority of these instances, support for Ukraine was discussed, especially how the Ministry of Defense was providing direct assistance.

According to a recent statement from the MoD, the department "continues to explore all options to meet essential Ukrainian requirements at the quantities and pace required."