since launch Russian military operation on Ukrainian territoryOn February 24, the West, led by America, sided with Kyiv, supporting it with weapons, equipment, and humanitarian and financial aid as well.
But as time progresses, and the fighting enters its 56th day today, Wednesday, it seems that the fate of the huge quantities of defensive weapons, anti-tank weapons, aircraft and others that have been lavished on Ukraine is unknown, amid fears that escalate as the conflict drags on that they will end up in the hands of militias or parties that America does not like to arm. .
Several US security and intelligence sources expressed their concern regarding this point, although they stressed at the same time that the priority of arming Kyiv over the Russians takes precedence over any other risks at the present time.
“blind spot”
In an interview with CNN, these informed sources attributed the ambiguity of information regarding the destination of this weapon to the lack of means or ways for the United States to track these large supplies of weapons that it sent across the border to Ukraine.
She likened the matter to a “blind spot”, but at the same time added that it is a big but calculated risk that the administration of US President Joe Biden wants to bear, as Washington believes that the transfer of equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars is vital to the Ukrainians’ ability to repel Russian forces, in the long term. short.
armies and militias
Despite this priority, current US officials and security analysts have suggested that, in the long term, some of these weapons will likely end up in the hands of other armies and militias that America never intends to arm.
While a defense official said the Biden administration took into account when deciding to send billions of dollars in weapons and equipment to Ukraine, the risk that some of those shipments might end up in unexpected places.
But he stressed that, for the time being, the administration sees failure to adequately arm Kyiv as a much greater risk than others.
While a person familiar with US intelligence considered that some information regarding the destination of the weapon is available at the present time, but in the long term we may enter a complete fog.
From around Kyiv (archive – Archyde.com)
They know the secrets
With no US military presence on Ukrainian soil, Washington and NATO rely heavily on information provided by the Ukrainian government.
But secretly, officials realize that Kyiv has the incentive and the interest to provide as much information as it wants in order to obtain more help and weapons.
A selfie on top of a Russian tank in the vicinity of Kyiv (Associated Press)
In addition, American officials realize that the West, including America, does not have sufficient information regarding the exact status of Ukrainian forces, and the number of those killed in its ranks, according to what two sources familiar with American and Western intelligence information confirmed.
One person familiar with the matter said: “It is difficult to track down any information when you do not have a presence on the ground.”
stumble russian
It is noteworthy that so far, it seems that Russia is still stumbling in intercepting or destroying shipments of supplies that reach the lands of the western neighbor, despite its announcement from time to time to target Western arms depots or the like.
A third source familiar with the intelligence confirmed that the Russian forces seem unable to strike the entering Western arms shipments.
As for the reason, it is still ambiguous and unclear, according to the spokesman, especially since Moscow announced this publicly and privately. But he pointed out that there are several theories, the first of which is simply that it did not find those shipments that appear to be sent by vehicles normally, often at night.
Scenes of a Ukrainian drone targeting Russian forces
He also suggested that the reason was that the Russians did not intend to carry out indiscriminate strikes, in light of their suffering from running out of ammunition, before actually making sure that they were convoys of weapons.
It is noteworthy that the US Department of Defense announced yesterday, Tuesday, that Ukraine’s partners had provided it with additional military aircraft and spare parts for repairing others in the Kyiv arsenal that was damaged or not working.
Ukraine has defied expectations of allies and Western military experts for more than two months by not only holding its ground forces on the ground, but also by keeping its air force operational despite Russia’s apparent air superiority.
