Ukrainian Official Proposes Commission to Help Track Western Arms

A Ukrainian official on Thursday proposed the idea of creating a commission to help track Western-provided weapons amid concerns over the lack of oversight.

The proposal came after the Financial Times reported that several NATO countries and the EU were looking at ways to track the arms being poured into Ukraine over concerns they would wind up on the black market.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said a commission should be set up by Ukraine’s parliament.

“I would like to suggest that people’s deputies (parliamentarians) consider one important idea. Namely, the creation of a Temporary Special Commission, which will deal with the preparation and consideration of issues related to control over the use of weapons received from our partners,” Yermak wrote on Telegram, according to Reuters.

Yermak said that all the Western arms Ukraine receive “are registered and sent to the front” and that setting up the commission would make the process “become even more open.”

Back in April, Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, said its investigations indicated arms were being smuggled into the EU from Ukraine. “Initially, Ukrainian officials maintained registers of firearms handed out to civilians, but this practice was abandoned as the war progressed and firearms have been distributed without records since then,” Europol said.

The law enforcement agency called for the creation of “a register of weapons and other military materials transferred from the EU to Ukraine.”