Small arms and ammunition originally sent by Iran to the rebels Houthi of Yemen but seized by Washington and its allies, he relayed last week to Ukraine the US military.
This arms delivery is expected to help Kiev, which is severely short of ammunition in its war with Russia, but does not solve the Ukrainian military’s heavy weapons (missiles, missiles) deficit, as the US Congress has not been able to agree on approving a new military aid package.
The shipment, which took place on April 4, according to the US military, includes more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles, machine guns, precision rifles, rocket launchers and more than 500,000 rounds of rifle ammunition, the US Military Middle East Command (Centcom) said. ) in an announcement on X (formerly Twitter). “These are enough equipment for a Ukrainian brigade of small-caliber rifles,” the statement added.
These weapons shipments had been “transferred by 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,” Centcom adds.
The seizures took place on four vessels between May 2021 and February 2023, the US military said, vowing to “do everything possible to expose and end Iran’s destabilizing activities”. In October, a similar transfer took place from the United States to Ukraine: 1.1 million rounds of ammunition seized between Iran and the Houthis.
Tehran supports Yemen’s Houthi 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 global trade.
On Sunday, April 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that his country will lose the war if the expected $60 billion in US aid remains blocked in Congress, as Russia steps up pressure in the eastern part of the country.
It is recalled that the US program of military and economic aid to Kiev, amounting to 60 billion dollars, has been blocked in Congress since last year, due to the opposition of Republican parliamentarians as the presidential elections in November loom on the horizon.
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