Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: Many hospitals in the Gaza Strip are expected to shut down due to the lack of fuel needed to operate generators
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: Intense Israeli shelling and airstrikes overnight targeted dozens of homes and displaced persons' tents in various areas of the Gaza Strip
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in southern Lebanon: An Israeli drone targeted the city of al-Khiam with two missiles
Al Mayadeen correspondent in southern Lebanon: An Israeli drone strike targeted the town of Yater, South Lebanon
Lebanese Ministry of Health: One martyr and five wounded in an Israeli drone strike on a car in Al-Numayriyeh, Nabatieh District.
Al Mayadeen correspondent to Gaza: The areas required to be evacuated in western Gaza contain tens of thousands of displaced people.
Al-Mayadeen correspondent to Gaza: The Israeli evacuation threats are for areas the occupation considers safe, deep within western Gaza.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister: Beirut has not received any official memorandum from Syria, neither through the Foreign Ministry’s diplomatic channels nor via the joint Lebanese-Syrian committee.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister told Al Mayadeen that he has not received any official notification regarding a potential visit by his Syrian counterpart to Beirut
Russia calls for the continuation of ceasefire between "Israel" and Iran without any breaks: Lavrov

Ukraine sells weapons on black market due to limited ability to use

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 7 Jul 2022 10:54
  • 129 Shares
4 Min Read

The arms sent to Ukraine using the money of taxpayers in the United States, United Kingdom, and elsewhere are being used to line the pockets of the Ukrainian authorities.

  • x
  • A Ukrainian serviceman stands next to a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launch system in Kharkiv, April 20, 2022 (Reuters)
    A Ukrainian serviceman stands next to a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launch system in Kharkiv, April 20, 2022 (Reuters)

Ukraine is selling weapons it acquired from the West on the black market due to the Kiev forces' limited ability to use them because of their lack of training, logistical challenges, and the diminishing size of the Ukrainian armed forces, former senior Pentagon adviser Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik on Thursday.

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. 

The statements by Moscow and the Pentagon are not just claims, as Kiev itself backed them by admitting that foreign aid meant for Ukraine was already being sold. Ukraine's Bureau of Economic Security Director Vadym Melnyk told Ukraine 24 earlier this week that the agency had identified repeated cases of the sale of Western military and humanitarian aid.

"Given that these items are 'free,' a great deal of profit can be made by] selling what is not needed or cannot be easily used," Kwiatkowski said. "Ukraine's ability to utilize these 'gifts' is limited by lack of training, logistical challenges, and the ever-shrinking size of the Ukrainian army," the retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel added.

While some of the incoming material is incomplete, Kiev simply cannot utilize other equipment and implement it into its tactics or strategy, she added.

Kwiatkowski also highlighted how ironically, some of the weapons Ukraine is selling will likely end up in the hands of the Russian armed forces and their allies.

Even weapons that Kiev could utilize on the battlefield will eventually be sold, the former defense official noted, including the high mobility and efficacy ones.

Related News

France probes Musk’s X over algorithm, data misuse claims

Judge blocks LAPD from targeting journalists covering protests

"Even more effective US-supplied weapons like anti-tank Javelin missiles, M142 HIMARS high mobility artillery rocket systems, and M270 MLRS multiple-launch rocket systems would probably start appearing on the black market once the Ukrainians decide to negotiate a cease-fire and a settlement with Moscow," Kwiatkowski explained.

Read next: Stingers, Javelin missiles sent to Kiev sold on black market - Lavrov

Ukraine has received billions and billions of dollars in donated arms from the United States and its allies such as the United Kingdom and other NATO states in the past few months. The Biden administration alone, as of July 1, has committed nearly $7 billion, the US State Department said last week.

Just last Thursday, the White House announced that the United States was sending a new batch of military supplies to Ukraine. The new batch of arms supply is worth $450 million in shipments.

Earlier that day, Ukraine received a batch of HIMARS, weapons set on top of the Ukrainian wishlist, and the Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov thanked, via his Twitter account, his "colleague and friend Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III for these powerful tools!"

An initial four units of the rocket system have already been delivered, kicking off the training program required for Ukrainian soldiers to operate the sophisticated and highly accurate weaponry.

Though the United States has been taking care of providing training for the Ukrainian soldiers when it comes to arms they are not accustomed to, Kiev is still selling its arms to the black market due to "inexperience".

Even the HIMARS are likely to be sold, according to the former defense official, Pentagon policy chief Colin Kahl said Kiev's forces recently completed training on HIMARS delivered to Ukraine by Washington and London.

  • United States
  • Pentagon
  • Russia
  • Kiev
  • United Kingdom
  • HIMARS
  • Ukraine
  • Joe Biden
Russia & NATO

Russia & NATO

As the Draconian Western-led sanctions on Russia exacerbate the economic crisis worldwide, and as Russian troops gain more ground despite the influx of military aid into Ukraine, exposing US direct involvement in bio-labs spread across Eastern Europe and the insurgence of neo-Nazi groups… How will things unfold?

Most Read

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

  • Politics
  • 8 Jul 2025
Major ambush in Gaza kills 6 Israeli troops, injures dozens

Major ambush in Gaza kills 5 Israeli troops, injures 14

  • Politics
  • 8 Jul 2025
Concrete and rubble fall from a heavily damaged building as Israeli soldiers search for survivors in a residential area hit by a missile fired from Iran, near Tel Aviv, occupied Palestine, Sunday, June 15, 2025 (AP)

'Israel' concealed damage inflicted by Iran in war, report finds

  • Politics
  • 5 Jul 2025
Israeli soldiers are seen in Beit Hanoun ahead of an operation by the al-Qassam Brigades, undated (Al-Qassam Brigades Military Media)

'Israel' on blast as media exposes report discrepancies in Gaza ambush

  • Palestine
  • 8 Jul 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Yemenis burn US and Israeli flags during an anti-US and anti-Israeli weekly rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, June 20, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Sanaa slams UN envoy over biased statement on Red Sea operations

Palestinians carry the body of Abdul Qusay Issa, 23, who was killed in an Israeli military raid, during his funeral at the West Bank village of Salem, near Nablus, Sunday, July 6, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Israeli settlers kill Palestinian youth in brutal West Bank assault

Vehicles drive past a banner showing portraits of the Iranian armed forces commanders and nuclear scientists who were killed in an Israeli strike, at Tajrish Square in northern Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 30, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Iran envisions a resistant, independent Middle East, Larijani says

An al-Qassam Brigades fighter stands over the corpse of an Israeli soldier killed in Khan Younis, Gaza, in footage published on July 10, 2025 (Al-Qassam Brigades Military Media)
Politics

Al-Qassam kill Israeli soldier in new 'scandal' for Israeli forces

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS