The American army announced on Tuesday that it had transferred to Ukraine last week small arms and ammunition initially sent by Iran to the Houthi rebels in Yemen but seized by Washington and its allies.
This arms delivery should help kyiv, which is cruelly lacking in ammunition in its war against Russia, but does not resolve the deficit in heavy weapons (shells, missiles) of the Ukrainian army, while the American Congress fails to not to agree to validate a new military aid package.
This shipment, on April 4, includes more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles, submachine guns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers and more than 500,000 rifle rounds, said the US military’s Middle Command. Orient (CENTCOM), in a press release on X (formerly Twitter).
“This constitutes enough equipment to arm a Ukrainian brigade with small caliber rifles,” the text adds.
These arms shipments were “transferred from the Revolutionary Guard Corps to Yemen’s Houthis in violation” of a UN Security Council resolution when they were seized by US forces and their allies, adds the CENTCOM.
These seizures were made on four boats between May 2021 and February 2023, specifies the American army, which promises to “do everything (it can) to expose and put an end to Iran’s destabilizing activities”.
In October, a similar transfer was carried out by the United States to Ukraine, involving 1.1 million cartridges seized between Iran and the Houthis.
Tehran supports these Yemeni rebels, who since last fall have targeted maritime traffic in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, destabilizing world trade.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday that his country would lose the war if expected US aid remains blocked in Congress, as Russia increases its pressure in the east of the country.
The American program of military and economic assistance to kyiv, amounting to $60 billion, has been blocked in Congress since last year due to opposition from Republican elected officials, with the presidential election looming in November. next.