A report claimed that military aid provided by NATO countries to Ukraine was used by pro-Ukrainian fighters to attack Russia.
Prime Minister Alexandre de Croo said that Belgium would ask Ukraine to clarify whether pro-Ukrainian forces had used Belgian rifles supplied to Kiev to attack Russia’s western borders.
De Croo’s comments came Monday after The Washington Post reported mentioned Over the weekend, anti-Kremlin fighters – the Legion of Freedom of Russia and the Russian Volunteer Corps – who launched a cross-border offensive from Ukraine in Russia’s Belgorod region last month used tactical vehicles originally given to Ukraine by the United States and Poland and carried rifles. Made in Belgium and the Czech Republic.
“Our defense ministry and its intelligence agencies have launched an investigation and are asking for information to establish exactly what happened,” De Croo told Belgium Radio 1.
“European weapons are delivered to Ukraine on the condition that they are used on Ukrainian soil for the purpose of defending that territory. We have strict controls in place to make sure that is the case,” he said.
He highlighted that Belgium would take this situation “very seriously”, but refused to comment on the possible consequences if the reports were confirmed.
Earlier, White House spokesman John Kirby said Washington was also examining reports that US vehicles and equipment “may have been involved” in the cross-border raids in Belgorod.
In an interview with Al Jazeera last month, Ilya Ponomarev, political representative of the Freedom Corps of Russia, said, “Basic military equipment like rifles and machine guns, are obviously part of the regular fighters in Ukraine because both groups are part of the International Legion, which is part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.” “.
“So only normal equipment comes from there. The rest were captured during the fighting. The heavy equipment, for example, like tanks, was captured during the battles in the Kharkiv region as the Russian army was retreating. We captured those tanks from there and now we are using them in Belgorod region.
Kiev officials said its army was involved in the raids of Russian volunteers.
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