AnalysisPolitics
Made in the USA
Over 700 Ukrainian civilians have been killed by Russian weapons containing Western-made components
05:41 PM, 17 March 2025
Olesya Shmagun, Pyotr Bugaev, Alexey Basmanov
Ukrainian flags wave over the graves of fallen Ukrainian soldiers at a military cemetery in Kharkiv, 22 February 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/PAVLO PAKHOMENKO
When wide-ranging sanctions were imposed on Russia the same day it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the US authorities confidently announced the measures would “severely restrict Russia’s access to technologies and other items” needed “to sustain its aggressive military capabilities”. Now, after more than three years of war, it is clear that those goals have not been achieved.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, is behaving as if it has no leverage over Russia: voting with North Korea, Belarus and Sudan rather than its nominal allies at the UN General Assembly, and refusing to use the term dictator to describe Vladimir Putin, despite his jailing or exiling of all political opponents. Nevertheless, the White House goes out of its way to suggest that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has no desire for peace simply as he refuses to capitulate to Putin’s military aggression.
At the same time, three years of war have confirmed that Russia is actually heavily dependent on the West. The Ukrainian intelligence services have found non-Russian components in almost all the high-precision missiles and drones used by the Russian military in Ukraine. In 95% of cases, the parts are made in the West, and in 72% of cases the components — primarily integrated circuits — are made in the US.
More stories
Indefensible
What’s known about the type of Russian cruise missile used to strike a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday?
Gathering customs data on the hundreds of thousands of microchip shipments that have been made to Russia so far during the war, Novaya Gazeta Europe demonstrated just how little impact Western sanctions have had on Russia, which continues to receive much of what it needs to fuel its war machine from the West.
Open-heart surgery was being performed when a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile struck Okhmatdyt, Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, in Kyiv on 8 July. In the ensuing chaos, as much of the building collapsed, the evacuated children and staff, some of whom were mid-surgery, had to wait outside on the street, many with drips in their arms. Investigators later discovered that there were no fewer than 16 Western components used in the cruise missile, made in both the US and Switzerland, according to The Financial Times.
Patients of the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital are forced to wait outside after being evacuated following a strike on the building, 8 July 2024. Photo: Gleb Garanich / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
A year and a half beforehand, a café in the Kharkiv region village of Hroza where around 60 people had gathered for a memorial service was struck by a Russian Iskander missile, killing 59 people, including an eight-year-old child and 11 pensioners. The Ukrainian intelligence services found 37 Western-made components in the wreckage of the Iskander missile.
Western countries imposed strict sanctions on the supply of so-called dual-use goods — products that have a legitimate civilian purpose but can also be used for military purposes — to Russia immediately after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Yet the Ukrainian authorities continue to identify Western components in Russian weapons.
According to Novaya Gazeta Europe’s calculations, for which data published by Ukrainian Defence Intelligence (GUR) was used, at least 722 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in Russian attacks using weapons built with foreign components since the war began. All the same, this conservative figure is likely significantly lower than the real one.
https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?gdpr=0&us_privacy=1—&gpp_sid=-1&client=ca-pub-6625431160785126&output=html&h=300&slotname=4570767720&adk=2869566804&adf=78731615&pi=t.ma~as.4570767720&w=379&abgtt=6&lmt=1742727722&rafmt=12&format=379×300&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnovayagazeta.eu%2Farticles%2F2025%2F03%2F17%2Fmade-in-the-usa-en&alternate_ad_url=%2F%2Fbanners.adfox.ru%2F240322%2Fadfox%2F2049964%2Ff4c79e4ef6a93b90b435be357d6e3d6f_HTML_callback_VPNNovaya_330x250.html&wgl=1&uach=WyJBbmRyb2lkIiwiMTMuMC4wIiwiIiwiU00tTjk4NUYiLCIxMzQuMC42OTk4LjEwOCIsbnVsbCwxLG51bGwsIiIsW1siQ2hyb21pdW0iLCIxMzQuMC42OTk4LjEwOCJdLFsiTm90OkEtQnJhbmQiLCIyNC4wLjAuMCJdLFsiR29vZ2xlIENocm9tZSIsIjEzNC4wLjY5OTguMTA4Il1dLDBd&dt=1742728776738&bpp=2&bdt=225365&idt=2&shv=r20250319&mjsv=m202503180101&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3D0960cdda7736eb12%3AT%3D1742728467%3ART%3D1742728467%3AS%3DALNI_MZfpHqQsuFQe1uEJON5AT_wKprX_w&gpic=UID%3D0000100018371448%3AT%3D1742728467%3ART%3D1742728467%3AS%3DALNI_MYmkqCRguTXZQOU2Nr4Qpgmzj6czw&eo_id_str=ID%3D9561e0a01f82a582%3AT%3D1742728467%3ART%3D1742728467%3AS%3DAA-AfjaOr1oN9PWvgZsTXerMqfb7&prev_fmts=0x0%2C379x300%2C407x100%2C379x300%2C379x300%2C379x300%2C407x100&nras=1&correlator=3931858067606&frm=20&pv=1&u_tz=60&u_his=9&u_h=883&u_w=412&u_ah=883&u_aw=412&u_cd=24&u_sd=3.5&dmc=8&adx=16&ady=3330&biw=411&bih=752&scr_x=0&scr_y=1041&eid=95355340%2C95332928%2C95355311%2C31089209%2C95355301&oid=2&psts=AOrYGsmXF_LldRhE3VICOmDo4X5z8NyWHMAli5Q5lRj1-VI0KenRv087F9pyHaEXziVCP2DbLYlrTohWf7GWi1xtjd6bnR8%2CAOrYGskJowo9yt8-kVqgdZ9x0r0trKjuFcyfEM4W3P9bZL0MV_LsgdY–xj9diRPWzbkQFCnFMGmbHXSFlDT0aQ%2CAOrYGsnzC7o-9uIzo6KWFSfsFNJZb94Z9hXh8rFvsS2Q9_RDaec1q4JoCDysZn9u726bpoDdoZJY9zNAPMxtFvZ0ZC95%2CAOrYGsnNhWvXWbK4jcdVEHsu-UPPPtsjJ0ldr8jjECq2t1jxCaAOoRb67_dtQpLR6HQMGcUW9js3m6URCeBx8Pv_agGmH-A&pvsid=883432804212206&tmod=1237955619&uas=1&nvt=3&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&fc=1920&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C412%2C0%2C412%2C809%2C411%2C808&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7CpEebr%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&fu=256&bc=31&bz=1&td=1&tdf=2&psd=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLDNd&nt=1&ifi=8&uci=a!8&btvi=6&fsb=1&dtd=25
Novaya Europe has now identified over 4,000 Russian attacks that were carried out using weapons containing Western parts. Microprocessors were the most frequently discovered Western-made components, all of which were made by one of three US companies: Texas Instruments, Analog Devices and Maxim Integrated Products.
Between them, these three companies made components that were used in a third of all the attacks recorded by the GUR, specifically in Russian missiles and drones that have killed civilians.
Despite approaching all three companies for comment on the findings, none had responded by Monday.
