Weapons supplied to Ukraine flooding Africa's black markets: DPR Head
Denis Pushilin, acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), warns that Ukraine is selling weapons it acquired from the West on the black market.
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A Ukrainian serviceman rides atop of an APC with Javelin anti-tank missiles. (AFP)
Denis Pushilin, acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), said as quoted by Sputnik that foreign weapons being supplied to Ukraine, including Javelin anti-tank systems, are sold on the black market, most notably to Africa.
“I haven’t seen anything new lately, but the arms that continue to come to Ukraine can now be easily bought. And now Ukraine is becoming one of the central suppliers of weapons on the black market, on the dark market you can buy the weapons that are supplied to Ukraine as part of assistance and support by Western countries," Pushilin stressed.
This, according to the acting DPR head, also includes Javelins, which are now simple to find on the dark market.
"This kind of weaponry is being moved in large quantities to African countries, too," Pushilin said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, he highlighted that the harm Ukraine has already done to the DPR surpassed $20.5 billion.
"If we talk only about destroyed housing, the figures since 2014 are very approximate - 1.3 trillion rubles, even more. But here we also need to take into account destroyed enterprises, here we also need to take into account the destroyed infrastructure, critical infrastructure facilities," Pushilin said.
Pushilin’s remarks came shortly after Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari warned that weapons supplied to Ukraine from Western countries are "starting to flow" into the Lake Chad basin region.
Addressing the heads of states from neighboring states participating in the Lake Chad Basin Commission in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, the president said, "Regrettably, the situation in the Sahel and the raging war in Ukraine serve as major sources of weapons and fighters that bolster the ranks of the terrorists in the region."
In August, an American news outlet unmasked that a shockingly large amount of weaponry heading for Ukraine was untraceable. "Like 30% of it reaches its final destination," said a tweet that was later deleted after a swarm of online trolls attacked it.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had previously said the arms supplied by the West to Ukraine were ending up on the black market and spreading across West Asia.
