Ukraine would have lost fewer lives if all the schemes and loopholes for Russia's evasion of sanctions had been carefully tracked and completely closed, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in X (Twitter).
"According to some data, up to 95% of critical foreign-made components found in the Russian weapons destroyed in Ukraine originate from Western countries. These are not the actions of the government, but rather the actions of private companies, and the exports to Russia are not necessarily military goods, but also dual-use or civilian products and even household appliances," Kuleba wrote.
He emphasized that ultimately "these weapons arrive in Ukraine to commit war crimes, kill people and destroy critical infrastructure."
"Ukraine would require less aid and lose fewer lives if all shady schemes and loopholes to evade sanctions were thoroughly tracked and completely closed. The West has the best financial intelligence, experts and specialized bodies that are able to track such schemes and destroy them," the minister said.
According to him, the lion's share of responsibility lies with the companies themselves: they must control the end users of the goods they sell abroad and ensure that their spare parts do not end up in weapons.
"Disrupting the supply of these spare parts to Russia requires a large-scale and concerted effort by the private and public sectors. But it will save the lives of many civilians in Ukraine and embarrass Putin's military machine," Kuleba wrote.
