Ukraine’s persistent effort to get weapons to the battlefield, not the black market
Rocket launchers, precision-guided missiles and billions of dollars worth of other advanced US weapons have given Ukraine a fighting chance against Russia ahead of a counter-offensive. But if even a few of the guns end up on the black market instead of the battlefield, a Ukrainian MP gloomily predicted, “We’re done.”
The legislator, Oleksandra Ustinova, a former anti-corruption activist who now oversees foreign arms transfers to Ukraine, does not believe there is widespread smuggling among the most expensive and sophisticated weapons donated by the United States over the past year.
“We literally let people die because stuff was left behind, and they came back to get it and got killed,” she said of Ukrainian troops’ efforts to ensure no weapons were stolen or lost.
But in Washington, despite a looming government debt crisis and growing skepticism about financial aid to Ukraine, an increasingly skeptical Congress is demanding strict accountability for “every gun, every round of ammunition we send to Ukraine,” as Virginia Republican Representative Rob Wittman said. said last month.
according to the law, U.S. officials must monitor the use, transfer and security of U.S. weapons and defense systems sold or otherwise given to foreign partners to ensure they are deployed as intended. For security reasons, the Biden administration in December shifted much of the responsibility to Kiev for monitoring US arms shipments to the front, despite Ukraine’s commitments. long history of corruption And arms smuggling.
But the sheer number of weapons delivered — including tens of thousands of Javelin and Stinger missiles, portable launchers and missiles — poses a virtually insurmountable challenge to track every item, officials and experts warn.
All of this has heightened concern among Ukrainian officials who must ensure weapons reach the battlefield.
“It is frankly impossible to ask people to go through their stockpiles all the time,” Ms Ustinova, the chair of a committee in the Ukrainian parliament that oversees arms transfers, said in a statement. interview last month on the streets of Warsaw as she hurried to catch the train to Kiev.
At the start of the war, she said, “it was just about survival, and people just passed through Javelins” to fight off a column of Russian armor that crashed into Kiev early in the invasion. While these types of weapons are now routinely tracked, it is still “very difficult” to explain small arms, such as rifles, or the millions of artillery shells sent by the United States and its allies.
The control is tightened for Javelins, Stingers and other types of missiles, as well as small diameter bombs, certain types of drones, night vision devices and other systems delivered to Ukraine.
But Mrs. Ustinova says she saw it “zero evidence” of illegal arms transfers of the kind that would erode Ukraine’s credibility and at the very least threaten a reduction in US aid.
“Once there’s gun smuggling or misuse, we’re done,” she said.
So far, US officials said, there are only a handful of suspected arms trafficking or other illegal military transfers of advanced weapons for foreign conflicts that need close monitoring.
Federal investigators are currently investigating reports of Javelin shoulder missiles and Switchblade drones being sold online after being taken from Ukraine, according to a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a highly sensitive matter.
There was one confirmed report of a Swedish-made anti-tank grenade launcher smuggled out of Ukraine. But the theft was only discovered after the weapon exploded in the trunk of a car about 10 miles outside of Moscow, injuring a retired Russian military officer who had just returned from eastern Ukraine.
Inspectors from the Pentagon, State Department and the US Agency for International Development reported in March that they had “not yet substantiated significant waste, fraud or misuse” of U.S. aid sent to Ukraine from 189 complaints they received about alleged misconduct.
A rare visit by US inspectors to a Ukrainian military facility in Odessa on April 26 found “no irregularities,” said Captain William Speaks, a spokesman for US forces in Europe.
The commander of NATO forces in Europe, Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, told Congress late last month that he could recall only one instance of attempted smuggling — some automatic rifles — since the start of the war. He said he had “great confidence” in Ukraine’s ability to secure most of it $37 billion in US weapons and other security aid that has happened so far.
But the threat remains. In intense conflicts like the one in Ukraine, weapons are used almost as quickly as they are received. That makes portable missile systems and other portable weapons “hugely more difficult” to track, said Nikolai Sokov, a senior expert at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation in Austria.
Accounting for ammunition is “almost impossible,” Mr Sokov said. He cited unconfirmed reports of Stinger missiles “roaming freely in Ukraine”, saying officials appeared to be trying to persuade Ukrainian citizens to return small arms they received last year to defend themselves.
“This is what happens in any large-scale, protracted conflict, and I see no reason to think it could be any different with Ukraine,” Sokov said.
In interviews and congressional testimony, more than half a dozen U.S. and Ukrainian officials described a diligent but fallible process to track down U.S.-supplied weapons.
Before entering Ukraine, arms shipments stop at military assembly centers in Europe, where the weapons’ serial numbers are recorded in multiple databases that are reviewed by US and Ukrainian officials. Serial numbers are rechecked along the delivery route to Ukraine to ensure none are missing. They are also used to identify weapons that have been lost and later recovered; weapons that turn up far from Ukraine would indicate that they were smuggled.
Ukrainian officials are “monitoring it as it progresses,” General Cavoli told Wittman at the House hearing. “We look over their shoulder.”
Last December, U.S. officials began giving Ukrainian troops portable barcode scanners to instantly send the serial numbers of advanced weapons to a U.S. database. The new process was part of the Biden administration’s decision to give Ukraine more authority to self-report how it secures weapons.
US military officials said the shift was necessary, given that combat has largely prevented American inspectors from visiting battlefield units. But US officials responsible for oversight remain concerned that they cannot personally confirm the whereabouts of the weapons.
At least some Ukrainian front-line units under constant Russian fire are still waiting for handheld scanners, Ms Ustinova said. Such battlefield assessments are rare in other war zones, US officials said, because smuggling generally becomes a concern when entire containers of sensitive missiles or missile systems go missing — not individual light weapons.
Ms. Ustinova said Ukrainian officials and troops were all too aware of the harsh criminal penalties not only for smuggling US weapons, but also for failing to report any losses — weapons destroyed or captured on the battlefield. Every lost weapon system is examined and its serial number reported to the US embassy in Kiev, she said, “so if it turns up, in Iran or anywhere else, we won’t be accused of that.”
She said the 16-member committee she chairs has been conducting a dogged investigation news reports of Western weapons intended for Ukraine that have allegedly turned up with gangs, terror groups and other criminals. But Ms Ustinova said she has found no evidence that those reports are true, repeating US claims they attribute to Russian disinformation campaigns to cast doubt on NATO support for the war.
But the scrutiny weighs on Ukrainian officials, who weigh their urgent need for weapons against the high expectations of tracking them down.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine revealed “a pang of frustration” and an air of “How many times do I have to tell you?” when the issue was raised last month by a US delegation in Kyiv, Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who was traveling, said.
But Mr. Zelensky agreed that it is necessary, she said, to ensure the continued supply of US weapons and other security assistance.
“All it takes is a situation where we discover that someone, somewhere in the chain, has been given a piece of military equipment and sold it for personal enrichment, or misappropriated it in some way,” Ms Murkowski said. . “Because then it will only become much more difficult.”
Thomas Gibbons Neff reporting contributed.