(PatrioticPost.com)- CNN reported last week that the US is unable to effectively track the significant supply of weapons and equipment provided to Ukraine once it is sent across the border.
According to sources who spoke with CNN, between the portability of much of the weapons systems flowing across the border and the lack of a US presence in Ukraine, the Biden administration has few ways to track the supply. But the administration is willing to take that risk.
While in the short term, the government believes the transfer of weapons is vital to Ukraine’s effort to defeat Moscow, some US officials and defense analysts who spoke to CNN say the long-term risk is that some of those weapons may end up falling into the wrong hands.
One source told CNN, that once the weapons cross the border, they fall “into a big black hole.”
A defense official said when deciding to send billions in weapons and equipment to Ukraine, the Biden administration factored in the risk that some of those shipments could end up in the wrong hands. But, the official explained, the Biden administration believes the failure to supply Ukraine with these weapons would be a greater risk.
The United States and NATO have to rely entirely on information from Ukraine’s government since there are no US or NATO troops on the ground. One source told CNN that government officials realize that it would be to Ukraine’s benefit to only provide information that will bolster their case for additional aid, arms, and diplomatic assistance.
Both the Biden administration and NATO countries admit that they are supplying weapons based on what the Ukrainian military says it needs. But portable systems like Javelin and Stinger missiles, rifles, and ammunition are much harder to track than larger systems that are shipped by rail.
According to Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, trucks carrying pallets of arms provided by the Defense Department are picked up in Poland by the Ukrainian military and driven across the border. Kirby said it is then up to the Ukrainians to decide where the supplies go and how they are allocated.
