The United States of America is negotiating with the countries of Latin America on the transfer of Soviet and Russian weapons that are on the balance sheet of their armed forces to Ukraine in exchange for the supply of American equipment. This was announced on January 19 by the head of the US Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, Voice of America reports..

She explained that Soviet-style weapons and ammunition are located in nine Latin American countries, but a third of them - Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua - are Russia's allies.. The US is negotiating with others.

“Russia has allies in the [governments] of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, but six other countries have Russian military hardware.. The United States is trying to persuade these six countries to donate Russian military equipment to Ukraine and replace it with American weapons,” said Laura Richardson.

She added that due to the imposed sanctions, operators of Russian military equipment in Latin America are experiencing difficulties in obtaining spare parts from Russia.. This seriously complicates the maintenance of the combat capability of equipment, military complexes and aircraft..

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, based in Washington, Soviet and Russian weapons were once bought by Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil..

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Recall, according to The New York Times, the United States supplies Ukraine with artillery shells from warehouses in Israel and South Korea.. The problem is that the Armed Forces of Ukraine use about 90 thousand shells every month.. This is about double the current production volume in the States and Europe..