Before the us sent Ukraine, the first palette of what
would become about $8 billion dollars in weapons and
military equipment, officials had high level
discussions about whether these arms could fall into
the wrong hands. Three government sources familiar wit
the transfers now tell Newsy that although they suppor
Ukraine's defense, that fear remains one source said U.S.
Officials calculated that Ukrai needs the weapons so
urgently it reduces the risk of stockpiles being
misused. But analyst Elias Yousef says weapons tend to
outlive wars, even long ones. The real concern maybe
when the conflict comes to an end, which eventually it
will and when the demand for the Ukrainians dimin
it may increase the incentive to find alternative
markets for these systems. Analysts worry that bad
actors like terrorists could acquire anything from
portable anti aircraft stinger missiles, Small arms,
which are harder to track. Just last month, Homelan
security bulletin warned that a pro al Qaeda magazine
was encouraging followers to travel to Ukraine for
training and weapons to use in attacks against the west.
Ukraine's defense minister, Alexey Reznikoff says that
some weapons have GPS trackers, which a source in the
intelligence community confirme also said that the
country is using a NATO logistics system to monito
weapons. This process was already underway, but we are
happy to expand and increase its temple to ensure the
comfort comfort of our partners. Ukraine has erected a
temporary special commission to keep track of weapons
and equipment. But Jonah left who traces the movements
of illicit arms says that's not enough. Ukraine's
Special commission to monitor these weapons is supposed
to last for about a year. Is that enough time a year is
is quite a short time for any monitoring of of weapon
uh, that especially that are such so valued that the
proliferation or diversion of weapons can take place
any time after a conflict ends. So it's important that
any group that's assembled to ensure proper management
of weapons continues that work really indefinitely.
President Zelensky last week began a campaign against
treason and collaboration with Russia. Iain Overton
says the risk of smuggled weapons would come fro
potentially corrupt Ukrainians and entrepreneurial
Russians. He's the executive director of action on
armed violence, an organization that investigates
causes. And he spoke about what he saw happened to
Russian weapons in the Ports City of Odessa a year
after Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. There I
began to investigate a report called october risk,
which was run at the time by a former soviet. Naval
commander had links to Cronies associated President
Putin. And it seemed that weaponry systems even in the
height of this proxy war with Russia was still coming
through Ukraine on trains arriving octavius and then
being pushed out from there in naval ships down to
places like Syria and other locations in Africa and
South America. He says Russia has something to gain if
Western weapons enter the black market and then surface
in attacks outside of Ukraine. The Russian state itse
fighting a disinformation war may seek to place weapons
seized from the Ukrainian forces perhaps donated by
NATO and these may be sold on in order to create the
propaganda of the deed. Because if a NATO donated
weaponry system was found to have been used in, let's
say, Nairobi by salafist jihadist to take down an
airline jet, then that would be not only an act of
terrible terror, but it would be a profound propaganda
coup for the Russian state, who would point all fingers
of culpability at Ukraine The country before the
Zelensky administration has alr been a nexus of the
illicit arms trade. Is there historical precedent here
I I know we talked about that before. Ukraine kept
large arsenal of Soviet era equipment up through the
1990s and with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the
economic crisis that followed, it gave the opportunity
for criminal entrepreneurs to co opt that stockpile and
as much as 30 plus billion dollars worth of soviet
equipment was lost over many years in Ukraine. Russians
are currently using american and european components on
the battlefield. In Ukraine. We were not expecting to
see so many components from all over the world in all
of their weapons systems, including communicatio
devices, other counter U.A.V. Equipment, cruise
missiles, drones. So this was before the U.S. Imposed
sanctions for the war in Ukraine. This isn't saying get
around to the production issues that manufacturers in
Russia are having to try to keep up with the demand. Is
that what you're saying Some of these components were
manufactured before and some af Can you give me an
example of a U.S. Component I'm not able to discuss
company names at this point. I can say that we've seen
several semiconductors, electronics, guidance systems.
Their use in weapons does constitute a violation of
sanctions for some of these countries. And the Defens
Department spokesperson tells me they won't approve
transfers if they assess that a country can adequately
secure weapons. The statement also reads at the same
time, it's important to recogni that there is a risk
of weapons capture and diversion on the battlefield in
any conflict. Now, the spokesperson also said that the
best way to lower the risk is for Russia to just stop
its war in Ukraine. Let's see if that happens. Sasha
Ingber. Thanks