Reuters reported on Friday (March 11) that the United States and NATO were shipping weapons to Ukraine at the fastest speed, including highly sensitive portable air defense systems, such as shoulder-launched missiles that could shoot down aircraft.
Western arms shipments are crucial to helping Ukrainians fight Russian troops. Russia marched on Ukraine on Feb. 24, creating Europe's biggest military conflict since World War II.
But there is a risk that these weapons and equipment will fall into Russian hands in the process of transferring them to Ukraine.
A senior U.S. defense official responded Friday when asked about the danger: "Frankly, we think the risks are bearable now because ukrainians are skillfully using weapons in their hands to fight, and they are using weapons creatively." ”
Man-portable missiles (MANPADS) are one of the man-portable air defense systems (MANPA). But in the past, MANPADS have also been lost, sold or fallen into the hands of extremist groups.
For example, during the conflicts of the 1980s and 1990s, hundreds of MANPADS Stingers provided by the United States were seen as key to helping mujahideen rebels drive Soviet troops out of Afghanistan.
The United States later spent years trying to recover unused MANPADS from the country and other conflict areas of the world.
The RAND Corporation estimates that as many as 60 civilian aircraft have been hit by man-portable missiles since the 1970s, killing more than 1,000 civilians. As of 2019, 57 non-state armed groups have been confirmed to possess or are suspected of possessing MANPADS.
The RAND Corporation also said That Russia is the largest exporter of single-armed missiles, selling more than 10,000 units to countries such as Iraq, Venezuela, Kazakhstan, Qatar and Libya between 2010 and 2018.
Since the outbreak of the war, the United States and NATO have not disclosed how many MANPADS have been transferred to Ukraine in total, and Russia's military operations are now in their third week.
So far, Russia has not targeted Western agencies that transport weapons, and senior U.S. defense officials say the United States has not seen any Western-supplied weapons fall into Russian hands.
But that could change. At a meeting of russia's security council on Friday, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke of the possible future capture of Western-made Javelin man-portable anti-tank missiles and man-portable missiles (MANPADS).
He said the weapons should be handed over to pro-Russian forces in the separate Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly supported the idea.
"As for the delivery of weapons, especially Western-made weapons that fell into the hands of the Russian army — I certainly support the possibility of handing them over to the military units of the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics," Putin said. ”