WASHINGTON: The United States and NATO are shipping weapons into Ukraine at break-neck speed, including highly sensitive items such as shoulder-fired missiles called Man-Portable Air-Defence Systems (MANPADS) that can take down aircraft. The Western arms deliveries, another one of which is expected to arrive in the coming hours, have been vital to enabling Ukrainians to fight the invading Russians forces far more effectively and fiercely than US intelligence expected. But the United States subsequently spent years trying to recover unused MANPADS from that country and from other conflict zones around the world. The United States and NATO have not disclosed how many MANPADS have been transferred to Ukraine since the start of the invasion, which is now in its third week. So far, Russia has not targeted Western weapons convoys headed into Ukraine and the senior US defence official said the United States had not seen any Western-supplied inventory falling into Russian hands.

Source: Libya Today March 12, 2022 18:05 UTC