KYIV ($1=37.02 Ukrainian Hryvnias) — Switchblade 300 – a kamikaze drone, or loitering munition, for sale on the dark web with a location of Kyiv. The selling price is $4,000. Switchblade 300 American-made ammunition. The US delivered a quantity of Switchblade 300 to the Ukrainian armed forces a few months ago.
From the published ad on the dark web, it can be seen that the drone is based in Kyiv. The sale is not one-off, and the “supplier” clearly has access to a larger quantity, as he has set a price of $4,000 per unit.
This is not the first documented illegal arms sale in Ukraine. Some time ago, BulgarianMilitary.com announced that the Javelin anti-tank system worth $30,000 was for sale on the dark web. There are serious doubts about the sale of Stinger MANPADS. They appeared after Russian forces shot down two Ukrainian helicopters over Mariupol with these very systems. A French lawyer raised the alarm months ago that according to his military sources, two Caesar self-propelled howitzers had been sold to the Russians.
Ukraine knows
The signals are that the rampant illegal arms trade is increasing. And although this is no longer news, the measures taken are ineffective. Ukraine has acknowledged the illegal trade in Western-supplied weapons. The Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine registered repeated sales of humanitarian aid coming from Western countries, as well as arms. This was announced by the director of the department, Vadim Melnik, on the air of the TV channel “Ukraine 24” on July 5. “Even military goods are sold for cash. We have such facts,” Melnik said. According to him, the bureau is investigating cases related to the sale of humanitarian aid received from foreign partners.
As far as the sale of military products and weapons is concerned, the department has already registered around ten such criminal cases. Melnyk stressed that this is an incomplete number of similar crimes, as other Ukrainian law enforcement agencies register similar violations.
The US knows too
The US has also repeatedly stated that it does not know what is happening to the weapons it has supplied to Ukraine. DSCA announced that it relied solely on the information provided by the Ukrainian authorities. But he also stressed that the agency should send mobile teams to monitor serial numbers, stockpiles, and their redistribution to the front, but could not do so because of the war.
The American news media CBS News published an article analyzing arms supplies in Ukraine. As CBS writes, the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine is “the biggest determining factor.” It is a well-known fact that a large part of the arms supply passes through Poland, and on the border with Ukraine, the arms are provided to the Ukrainian soldiers.
However, CBS News [not only them, but BulgarianMilitary.com has also repeatedly warned about this] that corruption in Ukraine affects arms supplies. CBS News quoted Jonas Ohman as saying. He is the founder of a Lithuanian organization responsible for the logistics of non-lethal military aid to Ukraine. Ohman says only 30-40% of shipments crossing the border reach their final destination. He made this statement back in April. Today, Ohman claims that the situation has fundamentally changed.
A little-known fact is that at the end of July, the US sent a person to try to monitor what was happening with the supplies to Ukraine. This action confirms fears that the European country has a serious corruption problem. That man is US Defense Attache Brigadier General Garrick M. Harmon. Its responsibility is: to carry out control and monitoring of armaments in Ukraine.
As for the latest discovered sale of an American weapon by Ukrainians, the Switchblade 300, experts worry that worse than this deadly munition falling into Russian hands is it ending up with terrorists who can attack any target in Europe, achieving serious casualty damage.
***
Follow us everywhere and at any time. BulgarianMilitary.com has responsive design and you can open the page from any computer, mobile devices or web browsers. For more up-to-date news, follow our Google News, YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook pages. Subscribe to our Newsletter and read our stories in News360App in AppStore or GooglePlay or in FeedlyApp in AppStore or GooglePlay. Our standards: Manifesto & ethical princliples.
