Are weapons sent to Ukraine getting bought up by criminal gangs?

 

Ukrainian fighters with an anti-tank rocket. The Daily Mail/AP.

Criminal gangs are attempting to intercept western shipments of arms to Ukraine. The Daily Mail. $7 billion worth of weapons have been sent to Ukraine, mostly from the United States and Europe, since Russia invaded. Most of those weapons are not tracked so it is unclear where they end up. A source has claimed that Eastern European gang members are entering Ukraine from Poland and paying cash for weapons. Night vision goggles and body armor are also being taken. It is unclear how many weapons have been taken. Video has been released showing the boxes with missiles come in but none of them have been verified as authentic.  

My Comment:

Given the infamous corruption found in Ukraine, I would be more surprised if weapons weren't being sold out of the country. Ukraine is a poor country and is noted for their corruption. It would be trivial for rear area soldiers to syphon off some weapons from these shipments, especially lighter arms since those are not tracked at all. 

Of course arms proliferation is always a problem when there is a war. There's a reason why ISIS was able to easily get full auto AK's during the wave of ISIS attacks in the last decade and that was the wars in Eastern Europe in the 1990's. With the Ukraine War being the biggest war on the continent since World War II the problem is going to get dramatically worse. 

Some of these weapons could be the major anti-tank and anti-air missiles that the United States and Europe have flooded into Europe. Some of these weapons require codes to fire and use but many of them do not. Plus, the Ukrainians could easily sell the codes as well. 

This has dramatic implications for the state of terrorism in Europe. Though ISIS has largely been defeated it's very possible that the group could have a resurgence. And if that happens they could get their hands on these missiles. That elevates the threats to the next level. Imagine ISIS using a stinger to shoot down a commercial airplane or them using an anti-tank rocket against police responding to a bombing or shooting. It would be horrible. 

How much evidence is there for this happening? Not much. There has been video released but that is easy to fake. And the Russians have a motivation to lie about it since it could be a reason to stop sending weapons to Ukraine. But the Ukrainians obviously have an incentive to lie if it is happening though, since they want those very same weapons. Like many things about the Ukraine war the truth is hard to determine. 

Still, I have to remain somewhat skeptical in this particular report because the Daily Mail did not reveal who or what their source is. I have always been suspicious of reports that claim they are citing anonymous sources since so often it turns out that those sources don't exist. My guess is that this is happening but one anonymous source is not proof.