Tucker Carlson spreads fake that Kyiv sells U.S. weapons to Mexico — Ukraine responds

This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation.

Carlson said that allegedly Ukraine is reselling 50% of American weapons to Mexican drug cartels operating on the U.S. border, U.S. is sending billions in weapons to Ukraine, Ukraine's stealing them, and selling them to their enemies, while U.S. intelligence knows and is profiting from it.

The Center for Countering Disinformation debunked the claim, stating that the journalist’s remarks on his show are false.

"This is an old fake that Russia spread back in 2022. The Center covered it in the analytical report Black Market for Arms," the statement said.

The Center recalled that on August 1, 2022, Russian media and Telegram channels, citing the Mexican network Milenio Televisión, pushed a similar false claim about Ukrainian weapons being sold to the Golfo cartel.

The story referenced M136 grenade launchers, AK-47s, and Javelin ATGMs. The presenter mistakenly called the M136 AT4 a "Javelin," though they are entirely different weapons — the M136 has been in production since the 1980s, with over 600,000 units made.

"The cost of such a grenade launcher is $1,500–2,000, and it was purchased on the North American black market, not shipped from Europe or Ukraine," the Center clarified.

They also emphasized that international partners strictly monitor the entire process of supplying and using weapons.

According to experts, the goal of such claims is to damage Ukraine’s reputation on the world stage while leveraging a hot-button issue to boost engagement.

• It seems that American blogger and former CNN and Fox News host Tucker Carlson doesn’t mind that Russian invaders are being killed on Ukrainian soil, journalist Roman Tsymbalyuk commented.