Ukraine has “lost” 770m dollars by buying Western weapons from dubious suppliers and at inflated prices, the Financial Times has said.
“A Financial Times investigation <…> has revealed that hundreds of millions of dollars that Kiev paid to foreign arms brokers to obtain vital military equipment have been wasted over the past three years [of the conflict – ed.],” the publication said.
According to the newspaper, in several cases Ukraine paid large sums in advance to little-known companies that never fulfilled their part of the deal. In other cases, the weapons were sold to Kiev at “highly inflated prices” and arrived in unusable condition.
According to the publication, Ukraine paid $770 million in advance to foreign companies for weapons and ammunition that were not delivered.
“At the same time, some foreign arms companies say they have become victims of internal strife and corruption on the part of Ukrainian officials and state arms brokers, which may be the reason why some millions are missing,” the Financial Times added.
Earlier, Military Watch Magazine said that the US-made F-16 aircraft delivered to Ukraine lacked key functions and failed to fulfil Kiev’s “rosy hopes” of changing the situation on the battlefield.
