Several hundred Ukrainian missiles 'gone missing'

[SeanAshi]

Ukraine is still dealing with the legacy of the Cold War
Ukrainian Defence Minister Yevhen Marchuk has said that several hundred of his country's missiles are unaccounted for.
The weapons were supposed to have been decommissioned in the years that followed the break-up of the USSR.

But it is now being claimed that there is no record of them being destroyed.

This is being blamed on accounting problems during the period of transition that followed the country's independence in 1991.

We are currently looking for several hundred missiles - they were decommissioned, but we can't find them

Yevhen Marchuk
Ukrainian defence minister
"Unfortunately strange things happen," Mr Marchuk said in an interview for the Ukrainian newspaper Den.

"Each of the missiles contained gold, silver, platinum. But where are the results of their recycling?" he asked.

The revelations follow a recent audit carried out by the Defence Ministry during which it is claimed officials were unable to discover any evidence that these weapons were destroyed.

Mr Marchuk believes that accounting problems are to blame because a proper accounting system was not used by his department until summer 2003, around the time that he was appointed.

When Ukraine became independent in the early 1990s it inherited a huge arsenal of weapons which had been kept on its territory by the USSR.

The BBC's Helen Fawkes in Kiev says Ukraine, like many former Soviet republics, is still having to deal with the legacy of the Cold War.

[George W. Bush]

Pucker factor 10.

[Argyll]

...........and rising!

I wonder if there are Tac Nukes amongst these.......It's not something you would shout about is it?

"Hey Vasily........where the fok is that KM114-235/A 30 megaton MIRV we had in here the Other day?"

"Foked if I know Dmitri I thought you had it?"

[Ian H]

They do mean missiles, not warheads don't they?! ;)

[Flagg]

I've got first dibs on any Ebay listings that include the keywords:

Scud
Satan
Sickle
Scarab
Stiletto
Scalpel

Cause ya know, if they make it into private hands....they WILL wind up on Ebay......

And then you'll be reading about the Rogue Nation of Flagg ;)

[HELEX]

What kind of missiles? :roll:

[DeltaWhisky58]

According to the BBC they are SA-2 first generation Surface to air missiles of the type used so successfully by the north Vietnamese, and also used to bring down Garry Powers in his U-2. The fact that these are missing is clearly worrying, however the SA-2 is an old, maintenance-dependant system which is very complex to use and set up.

I would be more worried if the same number of Stingers, SA-7, or similar etc. were missing and in the wrong hands.

No reports of any of the missing missiles being nukes of any type.

[martinexsquaddie]

when my brother was in the ukraine the other year the place was the wild east they were offered AKs and rpgs openly in a market. some wideboy they met in a disco showed them a milanskis AT4 or AT 5 he had for sale plus a collection of sniper rifles :roll: so if the ukrainian armed forces have manpads there for sale :(

[HELEX]

Well, it could be worse. Without the Radar they are useless, I think they are now in service with some african army or something wich is still using the system.

[UkrainianAmerican]

Hlopche :cantbeli:

[red5326]

just be ready for something that gonna happen soon :D

[GazB]

All their nuclear weapons were transfered to Russia.

If we are talking about missing SA-2s then who cares?

Without the whole system of radars and support systems they would be about as much use to any one as one tone or so of rocket fuel and 150kg HE warhead in a large awkwardly shaped tubular case.

[Zmey]

The main idea is that they don't know if the missles were scrapped or not. He is not talking about Scalpels or Satans, otherwise that $hit would be all over the news. Ukraine gave up their nukes to Russia decade ago... together with (almost) all strategic bombers. Now if we can get them to give up SAMs the Israeli passenger planes can stop worrying. :-)

Z.S.

[usa320]

I too wouldnt be greatly concerned over missing SA-2's...

They require too much training and equipment to operate, therefore some rag-tag terrorist group would never be able to use them effectively.

And most rogue nations already have better missiles at their disposal.

Its the MANPADS and nukes you have to watch out for.