"Arming Ukraine" removed from CBS website

The American TV channel CBS stopped screening the documentary "Arming Ukraine" produced by CBS Reports, where they claim that only a third of the military aid to Ukraine reaches the front line. The movie is currently being updated. Detector Media reports this, citing the TV channel's website.

Instead, readers of the website can access a text publication based on the documentary. It includes a CBS editorial note:

"This article has been updated to reflect changes since the CBS Reports documentary 'Arming Ukraine' was filmed, and the documentary is also being updated. Jonas Ohman says the delivery has significantly improved since filming with CBS in late April. The government of Ukraine notes that U.S. defense attaché Brigadier General Garrick M. Harmon arrived in Kyiv in August 2022 for arms control and monitoring."

The investigative documentary was released on August 4. Its main thesis is the alleged non-transparent distribution of weapons provided by Western partners in Ukraine.

In particular, it includes a comment from the founder of the Blue-Yellow NPO Jonas Ohman, who claims that "only 30% of the Western weapons supply ultimately reaches the Ukrainian military," because "something happens to it" after it crosses the border.

After the release of the story, Blue-Yellow representatives came out with a statement that Ohman's comment had been recorded in early May and his words referred to the general assessment of the effectiveness of the West's efforts at that time. "In no case is it assumed that the support is being 'sold on the black market' or 'stolen,'" Blue-Yellow emphasized.

The film also included an interview with Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's Senior Crisis Advisor who works on monitoring human rights violations in Ukraine. She became infamous thanks to a recent report which claims that the Armed Forces endanger the civilian population of Ukraine by protecting them from the russian aggression. Rovera compared Ukraine to Iraq, to which the US supplied weapons, which leads the audience to the conclusion that the West should not arm Ukrainians.

The weapons supply documentary does not include Ukraine's official position.

The film "Arming Ukraine" was received with disagreement on the part of Ukrainian officials. In particular, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba called on CBS to conduct an internal investigation into the facts presented in the film.

On August 8, CBS announced that it had removed the tweet promoting the story on weapons in Ukraine and would update the content itself.