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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 25
"Russia wants to bring in another 30,000 North Korean troops," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on July 25.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for Russia's war against Ukraine to be frozen and urged a return to peace negotiations based on a revised version of the Istanbul talks.
(Updated: )
Regional authorities reported that a mass Ukrainian drone attack damaged a residential building, a gas pipe, and unspecified "commercial property." While the facility was not identified, the report follows a string of Ukrainian strikes on logistics centers serving the Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries.
The devastation was particularly severe in Sloviansk, a front-line Donetsk Oblast city that remains home to over 40,000 residents.
The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko embed with the 15th Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard, also known as Kara Dag, part of the 1st Azov Corps, joining an FPV drone team living and fighting out of the city’s basements.
(Updated: )
Air-raid sirens rang out around 11:20 a.m., with Ukraine's Air Force reporting Russian missiles heading to the Ukrainian capital.
The number includes 1,450 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
(Updated: )
The cause of the fire remains unclear. Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry announced a drone threat over Saratov Oblast the night of the fire, and the air base has been targeted in several previous Ukrainian strikes.
Friday, July 24
Russia plans to launch a massive missile attack against Ukraine within 48 hours and is preparing for a "significant" wave of mobilization in the fall, President Volodymyr Zelensky said July 24.
(Updated: )
Two air-dropped bombs were used in the morning attack, said regional governor Vadym Filashkin, repeating calls for the remaining residents of the city to evacuate to safer areas.
Protesters now say their campaign will continue indefinitely until Mykhailo Fedorov is returned to the Defense Ministry.
The grain corridor — a Black Sea shipping route that handles 90% of Ukraine’s agricultural exports — has not been officially closed, but it is under enormous strain as Russia steps up missile attacks on Odesa Oblast, Oleh Khomenko, CEO of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB), told the Kyiv Independent on July 24.
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