DISINFO: Weapons sent to Ukraine ended up in protests in France and were used against the police
SUMMARY
Demonstrators in France used the same weapons supplied by the West to Kyiv. Those weapons ended up in the hands of those protesters and are being used against the police in France.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory not backed by any evidence, whose ultimate goal is to erode public support for international military and financial aid to help Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s aggression in accordance with the UN Charter Article 51.
Although there is preliminary evidence showing that some small arms provided by Western countries to the Ukrainian army may have been diverted by traffickers to criminal gangs in European countries, and at least one expert had expressed earlier his suspicions that this may be the case with certain criminal groups in Marseille, the allegation that these weapons were used by protesters in France against police forces during the July 2023 riots is unsubstantiated and has been refuted by French authorities.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the weapons sent to Ukraine end up in the hands of criminal groups in Sweden, that the West is aware of the fact that weapons provided to Ukraine are being sold on the black market, that Western military aid to Ukraine only will cause more suffering, or that international support for Ukraine starts to decrease due to corruption.