The US handed over 5,000 assault rifles and more than 500,000 rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, which were seized during transportation to Yemen.
US provided small arms to Ukraine headed for the Yemeni Houthis
Ukraine received assault rifles and ammunition that were smuggled to the Houthi rebels and seized by the United States.
This was announced by the Central Command of the US Armed Forces on Twitter.
On April 4, 2024, the US government transferred more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7 and more than 500,000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces. This amount of ammunition is enough to equip one Ukrainian brigade with small arms.
The command believes that these weapons will help Ukraine defend itself against the invasion of Russia.
The US government is said to have taken ownership of the ammunition on December 1, 2023, due to a civil forfeiture lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The munitions were initially recovered by US Central Command and partner navies from four separate stateless transit vessels between May 22, 2021 and February 15, 2023. The ammunition was handed over to the Houthi IRGC in Yemen in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2216.
Aid to Ukraine from the USA
For several months now, the USA has practically not provided military aid to Ukraine. The reason is that Congress has not passed a bill with appropriate funding.
In February, the US Senate approved a document proposing to allocate about 60 billion dollars to help Ukraine. But he is "stuck" in the House of Representatives.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson refuses to bring the initiative to the vote. He proposes to change some provisions of the draft law, particularly those concerning credit assistance.
Politico recently wrote that US President Joe Biden's administration is negotiating with Johnson to advance a bill with money for Ukraine.
