The United States has handed over 5,000 assault rifles and more than 500,000 rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, which were seized during transportation to Yemen. This was announced by the US Central Command on Twitter.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">U.S. Government Transfers Captured Weapons<br><br>On Apr. 4, 2024, the U.S. government transferred over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s and over 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces. This constitutes enough materiel to equip one UKR BDE… <a href="https://t.co/Ydecq6OFAo">pic.twitter.com/Ydecq6OFAo</a></p>&mdash; U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) <a href="https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/1777650918512828481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

"On April 4, 2024, the US government handed over more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s, and more than 500,000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces. This amount of ammunition is enough to equip one Ukrainian brigade with small arms," the statement said.

The command believes that these weapons will help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion.

It is noted that the US government acquired ownership of this ammunition on December 1, 2023, as a result of a civil forfeiture lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

"The munitions were initially seized by US Central Command and partner navies from four separate stateless transit vessels between May 22, 2021, and February 15, 2023. The munitions were transferred to the IRGC by the Houthis in Yemen in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2216," the statement said.