Ukraine Says The US Is Holding Up $30M Worth Of Guns And Ammo — And It Wants Its Money Back

BuzzFeed ^ | February 8, 2020 | Christopher Miller

[NorseViking]

KYIV — At the heart of the impeachment saga that ended on Wednesday in Donald Trump’s acquittal was $391 million in US military assistance for Ukraine that the president ordered be withheld.

But that aid package, which was eventually released last September, wasn’t the only US arms transfer meant for the war-torn country that was held up. Several direct commercial sales of arms and ammunition to Ukraine faced significant delays at the same time — and they remain mysteriously frozen months later, BuzzFeed News has learned. Now, after a lengthy wait and down payments in the tens of millions of dollars for the equipment, Kyiv wants its money back.

The Trump administration is currently withholding approval for at least six commercial orders for arms and ammunition from US companies to Ukraine, together worth roughly $30 million, according to three current Ukrainian officials and a former senior US official who have direct knowledge of the sales, straining an already fragile relationship between the two countries. All four officials said that five of the pending sales from US companies have been delayed for around a year, and one of the sales has been held up for more than a year. The officials said they haven’t been able to get any answers from the Trump administration about why the deals, which typically take around two months to approve and must be licensed by the State Department, haven’t received approval.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Buzzfeed - from the mouth of commies. Always verify. The truth means nothing to them.

[NorseViking]

That’s true. Questionable source.

[D Rider]

Held up by the state department. Hmmm.

[kiryandil]

BuzzFeed “jernalist” Christopher Miller is probably at home tonight in his mom’s basement fapping to a Lexi Vindman Newsweek centerfold...

[McGruff]

Time to put the hurt on Ukraine.

[DesertRhino]

“It’s” 30 million bucks? That’s about 1% of what we GAVE them. They don’t have any money.

Ingrates.

[colorado tanker]

They want us to "refund" what we never paid them?

1. Sounds like fake news.

2. If it isn't, drop the hammer on them. They chose poorly.

[Kirkwood]

2 months is laughable. Closer to 2 years to get anything approved.

[DesertRhino]

If it isn’t fake news, it could also be the State Department playing ITAR games in another effort to set up Trump. So they can claim he didn’t deliver the paid for weapons.

[wastedyears]

We give them money in aid, then they buy guns and ammo with the money we give them, Trump puts it on hold and they have the balls to want their money back? No wonder the house went full steam ahead for impeachment when Ukraine started being mentioned.

[Sacajaweau]

The Dems goal is to make Ukraine become a government enemy because of President Trump.

So my guess this is fake news becuse who buys goods and pays before delivery?

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Reminds me of the Taiwan Air Force, I’ve supported parts logistics for them before. The full time job of a good chunk of their Air Force is to “prove” to us that we gave them shoddy repair parts and we should provide them with more free parts to make up for it. At one point they pissed me off so bad that I spent a year not caring if their country got invaded. I went and found another job soon after, I busted my @$$ for them and got called a liar and a cheat by one of their two-stars. Great, fine, go take care of your own business instead of sitting around complaining that somebody else isn’t doing it well enough for you.

If I were king for a day, the first thing I’d do is cut loose all of the FMS countries and tell them the ATM is closed, go get a contract with the aircraft OEM for parts and support.

[Does so]

Are the funds actually “frozen” or already transferred as kickbacks to SOME members of Congress?

[lone star annie]

Ukraine again

[Rashputin]

So permanent government pricks in the bowels of all kinds of regulatory niches can hold something up with a simple shuffle of papers on their desk followed by sending things back through the system from the beginning whenever it looks like it might bubble to the top, and that's Trump's fault?

Gimmie a break, the entire machinery is corrupt and groaning under the strain of being constantly manipulated rather than operating the way it's designed to operate.

Some little group of faggots not approving a sale doesn't rise to the level of being news unless there was foreknowledge that delaying the approval would be useful to the democrat machine at some later date. They were either planning to get the right palms greased in return for final paperwork or planning to spew this out as another example of Trump holding up precious goodies for the "critical defense" of Ukraine.

The worst effect of a small sale like this not happening on time is that some mid level thief in Ukraine gets smacked around or shot for not delivering what he was supposed to steal from the shipment.

[skr]

Two Ukrainian officials who spoke to BuzzFeed News believe the delays could be related to a Chinese attempt to buy a strategic Ukrainian aerospace company that the US has tried to block, raising the possibility of Kyiv getting caught up in a power play between Beijing and Washington.

Buzzfeed didn't totally forego giving a possible reason which sounds like a good one for not handing over yet more money until this is resolved.

[1_Rain_Drop]

Anyone remember where vidman’s older brother works? (not the twin)

[Clarence The One Eyed Lion]

[NorseViking]

Vindman’s older brother is known as a shady bankster in East Europe. More likely Soros connected than not.