Washington has intercepted and transferred to Kiev 1000’s of Kalashnikov assault rifles and machine weapons, with over half 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition, in addition to grenade launchers and sniper rifles, the US Central Command introduced on Tuesday.
The switch befell on April 4 and included “sufficient materiel” to equip a single Ukrainian brigade with small arms, CENTCOM stated in a put up on X (previously Twitter).
“The US authorities transferred over 5,000 AK-47s, machine weapons, sniper rifles, RPG-7s and over 500,000 rounds of seven.62mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces,” it wrote.
The Pentagon claims that the weapons and ammunition was on its method from Iran to the Houthi militia in Yemen, in violation of the UN arms embargo, when it was seized by the US Navy and its allies from a number of “transiting stateless vessels” off the coast of Yemen between Could 2021 and February 2023.
In December, the US authorities “obtained possession of those munitions” by the civil forfeiture claims by the Justice Division. Civil asset forfeiture is a apply that permits the US authorities to grab property suspected of being utilized in felony exercise, and has lengthy been criticized as de facto theft.
“US CENTCOM is dedicated to working with our allies and companions to counter the move of Iranian deadly support within the area by all lawful means,” it claimed, insisting thatTehran’s “help for armed teams threatens worldwide and regional safety.”
The announcement got here amid uncertainty about additional US funding of Ukraine’s battle effort. President Joe Biden has been urging Congress for months to approve his support package deal which might earmark $60 billion for Ukraine. Many Republicans have opposed the measure, demanding extra efforts to strengthen US personal border safety, whereas looking for extra accountability for the help already transferred to Kiev.
The US has offered Ukraine with $113 billion in varied types of help for the reason that begin of hostilities. In the meantime, Russia has repeatedly condemned Western arms shipments to Ukraine, saying these will solely extend the battle, whereas making the West a direct participant within the hostilities.
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