Several weapon marketplaces on the dark web have listed military-grade firearms allegedly coming from Western countries that sent them to support the Ukrainian army in its fight against the Russian invaders.
Supposedly, these weapons were somehow put aside from the received supplies and are now being made available to terrorists looking to buy rocket launchers and other high-impact attack systems.
While the listings appear genuine and the offered weapons are priced realistically, the chances of them being created by pro-Russian actors for propaganda purposes are high.
Israeli cyber-intelligence specialist KELA shared the results of its investigation on this matter exclusively with BleepingComputer, and their findings point in that direction.
Dark web listings
KELA has found gun listings supposedly posted by Ukrainians on several darknet markets, some specialized in firearms.
One of them is "Thief," which has a total of 9 listings associated with Ukraine, offered from three vendors.
The first vendor, "Weapons Ukraine," lists rifles, grenades, and bulletproof vests at a price range between $1,100 and $3600, promising delivery on the territory of Ukraine.
While no users have left a review on this particular store, 32 completed a purchase, according to the marketplace's stats.
Another vendor on "Thief" is "Big Discounts on Weapons," which offers a U.S.-supplied Javelin ATGM anti-tank missile system for $30,000. The seller has set their location as Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
Another market that lists weapons supplied to Ukraine by NATO countries is the "Black Market Guns," which offers NLAW anti-tank missiles for $15,000 and the U.S.-made Switchblade 600 Kamikaze Drone for $7,000.
Real or fake?
KELA has confirmed that many of these listings are posted on pro-Russian Telegram channels and even Russian media outlets shortly after publication on the darknet markets.
In some cases, the claims made on these channels are that the weapons are smuggled through Moldova by trucks carrying "classified" cargo, implying that the state of Ukraine has knowledge of the matter.
.png)
However, the coordinated publication on multiple platforms increases the likelihood of this being part of a disinformation campaign aiming to present Ukrainians as unethical and untrustworthy.
Finally, there's always the possibility these listings are added by scammers wanting to take advantage of the situation and make a profit out of thin air.
If that is the case, pro-Russian outlets could be simply picking them up, assuming they're real, or using them to promote their narrative.
At this stage, the authenticity of weapon listings from Ukraine on the dark web cannot be verified, but judging from available information and accompanying clues, most seem to be fake.
Comments
Amigo-A - 1 year ago
<p>Are you that naive? You send weapons in huge quantities so that people kill each other somewhere, away from America, and doubt that some of these free weapons will not be sold to other countries?</p>
Amigo-A - 1 year ago
In a war, not only the one who shoots and kills is to blame, but also the one who gives him the order, and the one who supplies weapons, and the one who decides to supply weapons, and the one who signs the documents, and the one who negotiates on the supply of weapons to other countries and the one who receives money for this, and the one who produces these weapons, and the one who lies that these are weapons for the purposes of peacekeeping. So you are all to blame for supplying weapons so that somewhere people kill other people. Somewhere away from you, so that it doesn't scary and hurt you. Do you naively hope that this weapon will not turn against you? Do you really hope so? It will turn against all those responsible for the supply of weapons and hit them with all its might.
The nightmare of the innocent will become a more terrible nightmare for the guilty.
Amigo-A - 1 year ago
<p>Do not want to experience this horror? Stop using weapons, stop supplying weapons to other countries! Can't stop? Because it's big dirty money and big dirty politics. The greed of your essence does not allow you to do this. This is the whole truth.</p>
Drags - 1 year ago
"[...]
Stop supporting Nazis and murderers, liars and hell-creatures in human form!
Can't stop?
[...]"
Amigo - we are working on stopping "Nazis and murderers, liars and hell-creatures in human form" - the sanctions are working and will be increased even further by end of year....
DL123 - 1 year ago
The sanctions are not working unfortunately.
Have a read up on this:
https://www.wired.com/story/volodymyr-zelensky-q-and-a-ukraine-war-technology/
Drags - 1 year ago
I would not count massive tech issues (military as well as IT), supply issues (near everything tech), and going back to building late Cold-War Era planes and cars as "not working".
Edit: never mind the fact that even China is now refusing Russian planes as they cannot maintain them to normal standards.
Pawn3d - 1 year ago
"The sanctions are not working unfortunately.
Have a read up on this:https://www.wired.com/story/volodymyr-zelensky-q-and-a-ukraine-war-technology/"
What do you mean unfortunately? Do you believe crippling a countries economy is ethical? Our "sanctions" over the last 10 years have been nothing short of TERRORISM. Here's how it works:
1. Stir up trouble in some African or Middle Eastern country by giving weapons to bad guys
2. Coup their government and put a bad guy into power
3. Start screaming "THERE'S A BAG GUY IN POWER" and use it as a pretext to invade) and take their resources)
4. We bribe their politicians and turn around and then sanction them for being corrupt.
5. Our sanctions collapse their economy which force them to trade with shady countries like Iran.
6. We sanction them for trading with Iran as civilians starve to death as a result of our sanctions.
Anyone who thinks with was was "unprovoked" is a complete moron. Every conflict between nations in the last 20 years has been started by the United States. WE PROVOKED EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM. We are the terrorists and America's actions leading up to this war are deplorable. We handed out assault rifles to Bandera supporters like like candy. These guys are ultra-nationalists who identify as Nazis and there's nothing more that Russians hate than Nazis. Basically, we said: "Hey Russia, we've got a present for you" and they started killing people in Odessa and this was
Yes, oil and gas play a big part of it. Ukraine charges the Russia transit fees to send gas through their country, but Ukraine has been siphoning gass from the Friendship Pipeline fees since 2009. Every time Russia catches them, Ukraine says there's a technical error or a "leak". Russia wanted to cut Ukraine out of the picture with the Nord Stream 2, and, but Zelensky has been a vocal opponent of it because that would mean a loss of $1,2 billion in transit fees (and no more free gas). So the United States heard they were having a dispute with oil and what was their solution? Give weapons to some Nazi battalions.
Wait, WHAT????
It's hard to believe, but it's true. We've been arming and training them for over 10 years.
https://therealnews.com/the-us-is-arming-and-assisting-neo-nazis-in-ukraine-while-congress-debates-prohibition
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/380483-congress-bans-arms-to-controversial-ukrainian-militia-linked-to-neo-nazis/
https://mronline.org/2022/03/23/u-s-and-nato-allies-arm-neo-nazi-units-in-ukraine-as-foreign-policy-elites-yearn-for-afghan-style-insurgency/
pe3yc - 1 year ago
Author: "this is most likely fake" So why do you post it than? Another kremlin request?
Buy the weapons, validate if its indeed shipped to Ukraine, find out how it got to the market and then post it as news. So far it is looks like a big lie in favor of Russia.
Have you ever thought that people who going to sell this kind of weapons would not post Ukrainian flag on their avatar just simply because they would not want to disclosure their sources. But russian propaganda will, and that is exactly what they've been doing for decades.
Pawn3d - 1 year ago
I left this website 3 years ago after nearly 20 years. Why? Because of garbage like this:
"At this stage, the authenticity of weapon listings from Ukraine on the dark web cannot be verified"
Oh really? Why don't you be a REAL JOURNALIST and do some investigating? Pony up $1,100 and buy one of those bulletproof vests and tell us if if came.