Fake Ukrainians trade Western and American weapons via the Internet
This is claimed by Russian state television and pro-Kremlin telegram channels.
Allegedly, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine sells Javelins, NLAWs, machine guns, and even tanks with armored personnel carriers from NATO and Europe on the so-called dark Internet - a deep part of the global network where users can remain completely anonymous. This is not true.
A team of BBC journalists investigated and found that ads that offer to buy American weapons are fake. In particular, photos of weapons from ads do not match the description. They were taken many years before the start of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine, or photoshopped.
Journalists noticed, while corresponding with supposedly Ukrainian arms dealers in Ukrainian, that they did not speak Ukrainian, and used a lot of Russianisms in their correspondence. Obviously, they translated their messages from Russian into Ukrainian using an online translator.
At the same time, KELA, a company specializing in the analysis of cybercrime threats, believes that the advertisements for the sale are distributed by pro-Russian propaganda sources, and may have been created by them.