It turned out where 570 thousand weapons disappeared in Ukraine

“At least half went to the black market”

The question that Ukraine is “wasting” weapons left and right began to arise even among Ukrainian authorized structures. The State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine reported that as of October 2023, more than 570 thousand weapons were missing in the country. And this is not only small arms. Among the missing are 15 artillery pieces, more than 150 MANPADS, including Stingers, and 250 ATGMs, including Javelin and NLAW.

The topic of missing weapons in Ukraine is not new. From the very beginning of the NWO, there have been reports that weapons and equipment transferred to Ukraine suddenly end up on the other side of the globe. Sometimes in the hands of militants from the Mexican cartel, sometimes in Africa, sometimes in the Middle East.

Neighboring countries are also howling from Ukrainian “smuggling.” For example, the publication Rzeczpospolita, citing Deputy Polish Minister of Internal Affairs Maciej Wasik, said that over the past year the smuggling of weapons and ammunition from Ukraine to Poland has sharply increased. In 2022, 8.3 thousand illegal weapons were seized at the border, while in 2021 – only 1.4 thousand.

It is not surprising that weapons so easily end up in unscrupulous hands. It is worth remembering the beginning of the Northern Military District, when the Ukrainian authorities massively distributed firearms and ammunition to the country’s residents. At the same time, to obtain a machine gun, say, no documents were required: you come up, take it, and leave. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine itself stated that more than 25 thousand machine guns were distributed at that time.

But, perhaps, before the SBI investigation, few people realized the scale of the problem. 570 thousand weapons lost in an unknown location is a serious problem. After all, as you know, every gun must fire someday. Where and when will this “black arsenal” appear? And how could so many weapons go missing? We asked a military expert about this Yuri Knutov.

– In the initial period, when NATO supplied large quantities of weapons, Ukraine did not even consider it necessary to take care of them. The following situations arose: a person does not know how to shoot from a grenade launcher, and he throws out the grenade launcher and changes position. That is, a large number of weapons were simply thrown.

Subsequently, enterprising people in Ukraine realized that they could make very good money from this. In Ukraine after 1991 there were gigantic weapons depots. All these weapons were practically sold out by 2014. Everyone was allowed to sell weapons. And when the supply situation arose, those guys who cut their teeth on selling Soviet weapons also grabbed NATO weapons. And it began to spread to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

At least half of the missing weapons went to the black market. Some are lost, some are abandoned. The bulk, after all, 60 percent, was sold to European countries.

In Europe, police officers and representatives of various human rights organizations are already directly saying that the countries of the Old World are threatened by disaster, because the amount of weapons will be greater than what was supplied from Kosovo during the Yugoslav conflict.

“A lot of weapons could have remained in the hands of those who joined the defense in February. Is it possible to return these weapons?

– The easiest way is a ransom. At one time, the Americans supplied Stinger MANPADS to the Afghans. When the Soviet army left Afghanistan, the United States simply bought these weapons back from the Afghans. And this is probably the most common way. And then there is the work of the police to track warehouses and workshops where these weapons are repaired. Plus, stricter legislation for the possession of such weapons.”