DISINFO: NATO sells unusable military equipment to Ukraine to make money
SUMMARY
The F-16 is an old NATO aircraft model, which is of interest only to arms dealers with an interest in selling these aircraft. They are selling unusable military equipment to Ukraine and making billions of dollars from it. The fighter aircrafts will not be given away for free. The primary goal is personal gain.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative falsely portraying support to Ukraine as a for-profit initiative; the ultimate goal of this disinformation story is to erode popular support for the aid sent to Ukraine for its self-defence against Russia’s aggression.
This claim was neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.
Ukraine receives weapons with the sole aim of self-defence in accordance with the UN Charter, Article 51, restoring its territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders of 1991 (which Russia also recognised when the Soviet Union dissolved).
In August 2023, the Netherlands and Denmark announced that between them they will donate up to 61 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Later Norway stated that it too will donate U.S.-made F-16 combat aircraft to Ukraine. These transfers are donations.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that NATO profits greatly from the conflict in Ukraine, the US is prolonging war in Ukraine to benefit from weapons sales, or that the weapons supplied by the West to Ukraine are actually useless.