On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said weapons supplied by the West to Ukraine are already ending up on the black market and spreading across the Middle East region.
Kiev has even admitted that foreign aid meant for Ukraine is already being sold. Ukraine Bureau of Economic Security Directer Vadym Melnyk this week told Ukraine 24 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… selling what is not needed or cannot be easily used," Kwiatkowski, a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel, 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."
Some of the incoming material is incomplete while other equipment, Kwiatkowski said, just cannot be made to fit into Ukrainian tactics or strategy.
And, ironically, she added, some of these weapons will likely end up in the hands of Russia and its allies.
Kwiatkowski also predicted that even weapons Ukraine can use will eventually be sold.
"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 decided to negotiate a cease-fire and a settlement with Moscow," Kwiatkowski said.
The US and its allies have sent billions of dollars’ worth of military aid to Ukraine since Russia’s operation began in February. The Biden administration alone has committed nearly $7 billion as of July 1, the State Department said last week.