EU warns of large-scale arms smuggling threat from Ukraine

A senior official at the European Border and Coast Guard Agency has warned that Europe could face large-scale weapons smuggling from Ukraine if the war ends in a ceasefire or settlement.

Lars Gerdes, deputy head of the agency known as Frontex, told a German newspaper that vast stockpiles of weapons, ammunition and explosives would remain in Ukraine once fighting stops.

“The situation could lead to weapons smuggling on a significant scale. This could become a security problem for Europe,” Gerdes said, warning that arms could fall into the hands of organised criminal groups or even terrorists.

Gerdes said European authorities were already preparing for such risks and compared the potential scenario to the proliferation of illegal weapons seen after the Yugoslav Wars, though he noted that the arms circulating from Ukraine would involve more advanced, next-generation weaponry.

By Aghakazim Guliyev