December 1, 2015 -
Vasily Ablyazimov, PolitNavigator -
Translated for Fort Russ by J. Arnoldski
"Instead of weapons the American deliver military junk to Ukraine"
The US is supplying Ukraine on the front line not with military equipment, but military junk subject to recycling. The influential American newspaper The Washington Post came to this conclusion.
The publication reads: “The United States has delivered a sum of more than $260 million of non-lethal military equipment to aid the government of Ukraine in fighting against a pro-Russian rebellion, but some of the military equipment supplied by the US is little more than garbage.”
Thus, around 100 Hummer military jeeps delivered last summer were more capable of being recycled than anything else. The “newest” ones were 20 years old, and the oldest had been operating for around 30 years. “On three of the Hummers there were plastic windows and doors...the tires on one of the trucks exploded after a few hundred kilometers...” A significant part of the vehicles can’t guarantee and do not have sufficient armor protection. According to Ukrainian media, each jeep cleared customs at a cost of around 40,000 USD. The cost of a set of tires for a Hummer in Ukraine is no less than 1000 USD. The amount required for putting tires on a Hummer in poor condition is equal to the amount for which one could buy a second-hand SUV.
The Pentagon also delivered bullet-proof vests to Kiev’s military forces which have not been used by the Americans since the mid 2000’s.
“If the Americans are going to send us equipment, then let them send us unused things,” stated one Ukrainian commander who, like other soldiers, spoke on condition of anonymity.
Official spokesman for the Pentagon, Joe Sowers, refused to comment on the newspaper or the poor state of American equipment.
“The broken condition of American equipment delivered by the US to the front line in Ukraine,” the publication writes, “has created distrust and lowered morale among Ukrainian troops.”
On the condition of anonymity, an American official from the Pentagon commented on the publication of delivery data. He said that Ukraine was given “material which had been sitting somewhere and which is not in service.” “In some cases, the Hummers were used for...spare parts. They are not good enough to be driven, but you can disassemble them for parts.”
We recall that the recycling of military equipment on the territory of the US is a rather expensive affair.
That the US gave Ukraine non-working military hardware was confirmed by Ukrainian sources. This scandal, in particular, was the subject of a report on channel 112.
According to journalists, the Ukrainian military is using American military Hummers released in the ’80’s and ’90’s, two out of three of which do not work.
“They have plastic windows and doors which don’t offer any protection. On one of the SUV’s, the tires exploded after only the first hundred meters. Also, the Ukrainian military has been given body armor which the American army stopped using 10 years ago. Altogether, Washington has pledged non-lethal military aid in the amount of $250 million,” the report says.
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