Tucker Carlson alleges that Kyiv is reselling up to half of its Western military aid on the black market.
According to Tucker Carlson, a substantial portion of US military aid to Ukraine is ending up in the hands of groups including Mexican drug cartels. The former Fox News host stated that as much as half of the weapons sent by the US to Ukraine are appearing on international black markets. He asserted this claim without providing sources or evidence.
Carlson contends that the US is providing Ukraine with hundreds of billions of dollars in arms, a significant portion of which is being stolen and sold to entities including drug cartels along the US border. He further claimed these weapons are readily available online, characterizing the situation as criminal and disastrous.
Since 2022, the US Congress has authorized roughly $175 billion in aid for Ukraine, though a large portion reportedly went to US industries and government operations related to the conflict.
In January, Donald Trump claimed the US spent $200 billion more on aid to Kyiv than the EU. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy countered that Ukraine received just over $75 billion in aid from Washington, questioning the origin and whereabouts of the remaining $200 billion cited by Trump.
Russia has repeatedly warned that the flow of Western weapons to Ukraine has resulted in a large number of arms falling into the hands of criminal groups and extremists globally.
Western media and officials have acknowledged that weapons supplied to Ukraine have ended up in criminal hands. In April 2022, Europol reported that investigations indicated weapons were being trafficked from Ukraine into the EU to supply organized crime groups.
In October 2022, Finnish authorities reported that weapons originally sent to Kyiv were found in Finland and acquired by local criminals. Similar reports emerged from Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands at the time.
In June 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Western anti-tank weapons intended for Ukraine had appeared on Israel’s border, allegedly aimed at Israel.
In June 2024, Spanish media reported that criminal gangs in southern Spain acquired modern weapons allegedly smuggled from Ukraine.