Pentagon reveals facts of theft of Western weapons in Ukraine that were returned

There were cases of theft of Western weapons in Ukraine during the first months of the full-scale war, but the weapons have been found and seized.

Source: CNN, referring to a report by the Pentagon’s Inspector General

Details: The report mentions that the inability of Pentagon personnel to visit locations where weapons provided to Ukraine were being used or stored between February and September 2022 made monitoring significantly more complicated. However, at the end of October, the US resumed on-site inspections of Ukrainian ammunition storage points to track where US military assistance was going.

It is noted that due to the difficulty of tracking the weapons provided, the US European Command tried to mitigate this problem by requiring receipts from Ukrainians that they "made a good faith effort to provide".

The Office of Defence Cooperation-Kyiv, as stated in the report, also asked the Ukrainian government to provide reports on expenditures, losses and damage to US-provided equipment. The Ukrainian government, for its part, "made efforts to prevent illicit proliferation of defence material provided by the United States".

The report notes that criminal organisations have nevertheless managed to steal some weapons and equipment provided by the US and allies to Ukraine.

The report says that at the end of June 2022, an organised criminal group led by an unnamed Russian official joined a volunteer battalion using forged documents and stole weapons – a grenade launcher and a machine gun, as well as more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. However, Ukrainian intelligence uncovered the plot.

Also last June, Ukrainian intelligence services uncovered a conspiracy of traders who were trying to sell weapons and ammunition stolen from the frontline in Ukraine’s south. In addition, a conspiracy of Ukrainian criminals posing as humanitarian workers who stole bulletproof vests worth US$17,000 was also exposed.

It is also reported that in August 2022, Ukrainian security services exposed a group of volunteer battalion fighters who stole 60 rifles and almost 1,000 rounds of ammunition. They kept the weapons in a warehouse to possibly sell them on the black market. The report does not specify whether the weapons were provided to Ukraine by its partners.

The Pentagon report notes that missiles and helicopters were easier to track through intelligence mechanisms, but smaller items, such as night vision devices, were more difficult to control.

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