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Hunting rifle scopes manufactured by Western companies are ending up in the hands of Russian fighters in Ukraine, independent Russian media outlet Important Stories reported on Dec. 26.
Russian arms companies are purchasing the sights from Western companies including U.S.-based Leupold, U.S.-Japanese firm Nightforce, U.S.-Chinese company Holosun, and Austria's Swarovski Optik, according to the investigation.
Although they are only intended for hunting and sporting purposes, Important Stories found dozens of YouTube videos showing Russian fighters using the scopes on the frontline.
The investigation found that Russia imported sights amounting to 16 billion rubles ($174 million) in 2022 and 2023.
One of the main online sellers, Pointer from St. Petersburg, purchased 50,000 sights from Holosun for 3 billion rubles ($32.5 million). Another online store, Navigator, imported sights worth approximately 400 million rubles ($4.3 million), including over 2,000 products from Holosun.
The products are then purchased by arms companies, including Tehnologiya, which was associated with former Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. The company brought optics, rangefinders, glasses, and other equipment for 140 million rubles ($1.5 million) from Navigator.
According to Important Stories, the Western manufacturers likely don’t know where their products end up. Pointer uses intermediaries in China, while Navigator has middlemen in Turkey and Kazakhstan.
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Saturday, July 4
President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump on July 4, congratulating him on U.S. Independence Day and discussing the battlefield situation, diplomacy, and efforts to end Russia's war against Ukraine.
(Updated: )
Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 74 missiles and 496 long-range drones during the attack, most of which targeted Kyiv.
Russia proposed a temporary ceasefire in the front-line city of Kostiantynivka to facilitate a handover of fallen Ukrainian service members' bodies, and the Kremlin said that President Volodymyr Zelensky should travel to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin instead of meeting in the embattled city.
The decision to place the Pantheon on the territory of the Kyiv Pechersk-Lavra is associating it with what Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, calls "one of the holiest places in the Christian world."
"When we ask America for Patriots, we believe that the values of respect for life and for people that prevailed 250 years ago will prevail again today," Zelensky said.
(Updated: )
The EU's new steel allocation, set to enter into force on July 1, was introduced in response to global steel overcapacity, which has been hurting EU producers. The measure aims to restrict tariff-free steel imports to 18.3 million metric tons per year, a 47% reduction.
Witnesses to the accident claim it was provoked by a driver heading in the wrong direction on the motorway toward the minibus, according to Mykolaiv police.
The new footage was published just hours after another night of Ukraine successfully attacking military targets on the peninsula.
(Updated: )
Some groups of Russian infantry troops have entered the embattled city, and the situation is difficult, but Kostiantynivka remains under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Head of Ukraine's General Staff Major Andriy Kovalev stressed.
(Updated: )
Ukraine's military reportedly carried out an attack on St. Petersburg in the early hours of July 4, striking an oil terminal in the city, Russian Telegram media channels reported.
"The decision will make it possible to hold Russia's senior political and military leadership to account specifically for the crime of aggression, not merely for its consequences," Zelensky said.
The number includes 1,190 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
Fires reported at ferry terminal, airfield in Russian-occupied Crimea as Ukrainian strikes continue.
Ukraine's military continued its barrage of attacks on targets in Russian-occupied Crimea overnight on July 4, reportedly striking key infrastructure on the peninsula, Russian Telegram media channels reported.
"In Belgorod, infrastructure objects were damaged, as a result of which disruptions in the supply of electricity and water were recorded," acting Governor Alexander Shuvaev reported.
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