US transfers thousands of seized weapons, ammunition to Ukraine
Ukraine has been dealing with shortages of weapons and munitions on the battlefield in its war against Russia, as the US is unable to send more equipment from its stockpiles until Congress approves more funding.
Representative Image (ANI)
WASHINGTON: The United States has transferred thousands of infantry weapons and over 500,000 rounds of ammunition seized from Iran to Ukraine last week, US Central Command stated.
These thousands of machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition were seized more than a year ago as they were being shipped by Iran to Houthi forces in Yemen, the US CENTCOM said.
Ukraine has been dealing with shortages of weapons and munitions on the battlefield in its war against Russia, as the US is unable to send more equipment from its stockpiles until Congress approves more funding.
The CENTCOM further stated that the material transferred to Ukraine is enough to equip one Ukrainian brigade -- around 4,000 personnel -- with small-arms rifles, reported CNN.
"On Apr. 4, 2024, the U.S. government transferred over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s and over 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces. This constitutes enough material to equip one UKR BDE with small arms rifles. These weapons will help Ukraine defend against Russia's invasion," the US CENTCOM posted on X, on Tuesday.
The munitions were originally seized by the US military and its partners "from four separate transiting stateless vessels between 22 May 2021 to 15 Feb 2023," however, the US government did not obtain ownership of the equipment via the Justice Department's civil forfeiture process until December of last year, CENTCOM said.
Notably, it is not the first time the US has transferred seized Iranian military equipment to the Ukrainians.
The US has transferred over one million rounds of seized Iranian ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces in October, according to CNN.
Over the past year, the US Navy has seized thousands of Iranian assault rifles and over one million rounds of ammunition from vessels used by Iran to ship weapons to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Reportedly, the Biden administration has been working to legally send the seized weapons, stored in CENTCOM facilities across the Middle East, to the Ukrainians.