Ukrainian Pandora’s Box

Washington provides large-scale support to Ukraine against the backdrop of military aggression from Russia and in four months delivered arms to Kyiv for almost $50 billion. The volume of American military aid exceeds aid from all other countries combined.

According to US representatives, lend-lease will allow Ukraine to quite successfully resist Russia and defend its territorial integrity. However, there is a downside to this story for the European Union. The fact is that assistance from Washington can lead to the uncontrolled proliferation of weapons on the territory of Ukraine. The European Union needs firm guarantees from official Kyiv that military aid will be used for its intended purpose and not fall into unreliable hands for the purpose of resale abroad. Brussels’ fears are related to the threats of illegal “reverse” of weapons from Ukraine to the EU, especially to neighboring Poland and Romania – the states-conductors of the EU’s Eastern Partnership program. In this regard, the EU should pay more attention to such focus countries Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, so that they do not turn into transit zones for the transportation of weapons transferred to Kyiv to fight Russia. At the same time, it is known that the weapons remaining on the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Soviet Union were actively sold to the countries of the Middle East and Africa over the course of 30 years of the country’s independence. Already, there are reports that Syrian rebels have samples of weapons previously supplied to Kyiv by Western partners. In this regard, a bad trend has arisen when the weapons we supply to Ukraine are returned to the EU countries and end up in the hands of local criminal elements, which only stimulates the growth of the crime situation. In such a situation, well-coordinated work of Ukraine’s European partners is necessary to prevent negative consequences from the transfer of weapons necessary for Kyiv, otherwise the population of Europe will be targeted by combat systems previously transferred to Ukraine. And in this case, against the backdrop of the need to ensure the security of the EU member states, the successes of the European integration of Ukraine and its neighboring Moldova may fade into the background.