Tucker Carlson Is Lying About Ukraine and Mexico
While Carlson repeated that his claim about the weapons being sent to Mexico is a “fact,” he offered no evidence of any kind to support it.
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson—whose suspended program is now on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter—has made a number of dubious claims about Ukraine. Carlson’s critics have accused him of regularly spreading poorly-sourced pro-Kremlin talking points, and occasionally more overt lies.
On Monday, in an interview with U.S. Army Colonel Daniel Davis (ret.), a noted critic of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, Carlson alleged that weapons provided to Kyiv’s forces have ended up in Mexico, and even more ominously are in the hands of the drug cartels. He claimed the weapons could threaten U.S. security.
The hour-long video has been seen more than 2.5 million times since it was posted on Monday afternoon. It can be viewed below.
“Fact is, [the] Ukrainian military is selling a huge percentage, up to half of the arms that we send them, half! And I’m not guessing about this. I know that for a fact,” Carlson said during the program. “We’re sending these arms to Ukraine, billions, hundreds of billions of dollars, and it’s being stolen and sold to our actual enemies.”
While Carlson repeated that his claim about the weapons being sent to Mexico is a “fact,” he offered no evidence of any kind to support it. However, his commentary has already been cited as authoritative by Russian-based media outlets including Tass, RIA Novosti, and EurAsia Daily.
Some of his followers on X have reshared the video as well—highlighting how misinformation can easily spread on social media.
However, other users, including the accounts from legitimate news organizations around the world, have called for the former Fox News personality to provide proof of his claims.
Ukrainian Sources Call Carlson Out
Since the video aired, multiple outlets have responded. That has included the Kyiv Post, which sought to address the claims directly and debunk them. The report from the Post noted that the majority of the billions of dollars in hardware supplied to Kyiv have been in the form of “heavy weapons as opposed to small arms.” In other words, U.S. defense spending in support of Ukraine has overwhelmingly been for tanks, aircraft, and advanced weapons systems—things that obviously cannot be easily smuggled to Mexico. The Post added sarcastically, “There are no signs that Mexican cartels are using Bradleys or firing US artillery systems against the US yet.”
Though it is true that small arms like AR-pattern rifles have been supplied in much smaller numbers to Ukraine while also being the weapons of choice with some of the Mexican cartels, there is little proof any have made their way from Kyiv to the streets of Juarez or other cities south of the border.
“At any rate, that won’t be ‘billions’ worth of weapons stolen, considering the M4 carbine costs less than $700 brand new per unit in government contracts, and a billion dollars would get you close to 1.5 million rifles – enough to arm a nation, even the US with its 1.3 million troops in active service,” the Post further explained.
Yes, Weapons Have Been Stolen From Ukraine: Russian Weapons
There is no denying that there has been a flow of weapons sold on the black market that is coming from Ukraine. However, the vast majority have been Russian-made weapons, such as AK-12 assault rifles and other hardware.
Since the start of the war, Americans have been buying Russian hats, helmets, body armor, boots, and uniforms—much of it via online auctions like eBay.
According to a May 2024 report from The Economist, the captured booty included blood-soaked items, helmets with bullet holes in them, and other macabre items removed from dead Russian soldiers. However, instead of the sales lining the pockets of oligarchs or drug empires, the proceeds often go towards aid and relief efforts or are used to buy much-needed supplies.
Small arms and other weapons, like the aforementioned AK-12s, have been smuggled by arms dealers as well. But just this month, Kyiv cracked down on such sales. In most cases, the weapons weren’t flowing to Mexico (or other warzones) but were also being purchased by collectors and curiosity seekers.
It should also be noted that Kyiv did announce shortly after the invasion that citizens wouldn’t have to pay a tax on captured Russian tanks or other heavy equipment. The announcement came days after a farmer used his tractor to tow away an abandoned armored personnel carrier (APC) just weeks into the invasion, prompting much amusement from the Ukrainians and a spate of Internet memes.
It is unlikely that Ukraine would allow such vehicles to be exported—at least not until the war is over. And even then, it would likely go to a museum or collector with deep pockets only after its offensive weapons were deactivated.
Old News, But Fake News
Carlson’s recent claims aren’t the first time that there have been erroneous reports that weapons supplied to Ukraine had ended up in Mexico. In June 2023, The Associated Press ran a story discussing news reports that a U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missile had been trafficked from Ukraine to a Mexican cartel. However, AP’s fact-checkers quickly found that the issue was one of mistranslation and misidentification. The weapon in question wasn’t an FGM-148 Javelin but rather a single-use Swedish-designed AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher. “While AT4s are being used in Ukraine, experts say there’s nothing to indicate that the one in the video came from there, and that it’s far more likely to have come from other black market channels,” they added.
The misinformation appears to have begun after someone posted online, “A Mexican cartel member was just filmed with a US-made Javelin anti-tank missile. These were the missiles the US flooded into Ukraine in 2022.”
The original claim had no support. But soon after, Internet sleuths questioned how the “weapon” ended up traveling from Ukraine to Mexico. They further concluded that the arms had to be among those provided to Ukraine, despite no evidence being presented.
This is all too common with social media, where truth and lies are mixed together and difficult to distinguish from each other. The same was true last year when the Iranian-back Houthis claimed to have targeted a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the Red Sea. While U.S. media was quick to address the allegations, in Iran and parts of Yemen, the claims were reported to the masses as fact.
For now, we shouldn’t take Carlson’s word as “fact”—and instead should wait until he backs up his claims with something other than wild conjecture.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
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