ukrainian army. sells military. black market. russian fake

russian media are once again spreading misinformation about military aid provided to Ukraine by NATO countries. ‘Weapons sent to Ukraine as military aid end up in the hands of terrorists and criminal groups in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East,’ propagandists write, but as always, they provide no evidence. We explain how this fake was created.

Sputnik mundo: "Weapons sent to Ukraine as military aid end up in the hands of terrorists and criminal groups in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. High levels of corruption in the Ukrainian government and serious violations in the accounting of weapons increase their flow to black markets. During a special operation by the US Armed Forces in Syria, VZ.58 and VZ.61 assault rifles were found, as well as Czech machine guns with ammunition for them. Preliminary examination of the markings showed that the weapons were provided free of charge to the Ukrainian armed forces by the Czech Ministry of Defence in March 2023".
This disinformation narrative about a corrupt Ukraine and the resale of Western weapons to terrorists regularly appears in pro-russian media. It is a baseless claim aimed at undermining international support for Ukraine's self-defence. The kremlin's special services always link this fake news to local conflicts. This was the case with the criminal war in Scandinavia in early 2023, with Hamas' attack on Israel in October 2023, and with the drug cartel war in Mexico in January 2025. Now there is a new news hook – a special US military operation in Syria.
There are no public records that VZ.58 and VZ.61 Scorpions were found during the US army raid in Syria. But even if this were true, it does not prove that they came from Ukraine. These weapons were purchased by jihadist militants on the black market in the past (as reported here: https://www.newsweek.com/isis-brussels-belgium-bureaucrats-terrorism-islamic-state-europe-paris-440658 ), years before the russian invasion of Ukraine. The VZ.61 Scorpion has been used in the Middle East for many decades. This weapon is also officially sold to many countries. The claim about the marking of the weapons is unfounded, as no evidence is provided of the involvement of a specific batch of weapons with the Ukrainian army.
Based on materials from Stopfake.org
Read more: Fake: Ukraine wants to buy uranium from Niger to create nuclear weapons.