Ukraine would require less aid if sanctions against Russia were more effective - Foreign Minister
Photo: Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Up to 95% of critical foreign-made components have been found in Russian weapons. Ukraine would need less help from its allies if sanctions were more effective, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Kuleba emphasizes that the West should make efforts to suppress Russia's ability to produce weapons.
"According to some data, up to 95% of the foreign-produced critical components found in Russian weapons destroyed in Ukraine come from Western countries," the minister writes.
Kuleba notes that the supply of critical components to Russia is not the result of the actions of allied governments, but rather of private firms. Components used by the enemy in weapons are not necessarily military goods, but dual-use products.
One way or another, in the end, Russia will continue to be able to commit crimes against Ukraine, kill people, and destroy critical infrastructure.
"Ukraine would require less assistance and would lose fewer lives if all of the murky schemes and sanction evasion loopholes were thoroughly tracked down and completely closed," Kuleba writes.
According to the Minister, the lion's share of responsibility lies with the companies themselves, who must control the end users of the goods and ensure that their spare parts do not end up in weapons that kill people.
"Disrupting supplies of these spare parts to Russia requires large-scale, concerted efforts by the private and public sectors. But it will save the lives of many civilians in Ukraine and disarray Putin’s war machine," Kuleba says.
Foreign components in Russian weapons
Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia and its allies to limit the supply of technologies that can be used in the production of weapons.
However, Russian missiles or Shahed drones continue to contain parts that were manufactured abroad. The parts in the drones may be manufactured by companies in Ukraine's allied countries.
Back in the summer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that one of the missiles that Russia fired at Kryvyi Rih had about 50 foreign components. In June, it also became known that the Russian Kalibr missiles used by the invaders to fire on Odesa contained more than 40 foreign components.
