Ukrainian specialists took apart the Russian cruise missile H-101 that fell on Kyiv on 13 and 14 May - and were surprised. Inside they found over 100 components of Western manufacture. Not Russian, not Iranian, not North Korean - chips and boards from American, German and Japanese brands.

The names showing up in the analyses: Texas Instruments, AMD, Kyocera AVX, Harting Technology Group, Nexperia. Some of the missiles were produced in the second quarter of 2026 - so just a few months before they were used. That means at the moment when Brussels and Washington were pushing "sanctions against the Kremlin", parts for the bombs falling on Ukrainian flats had been manufactured in the past six months and arrived in Moscow without trouble.

How? Through third countries, through resales, through middlemen, through grey markets. The same kind of garnitured business that moves Iranian chips into North Korea and Chinese chips into Iran - it likewise routes Western components to Russia without leaving a trace. Sanctions are written in Brussels and Washington. Contracts are signed in Dubai, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur.

The attack of 13-14 May was one of the most ferocious since the start of the war. Targets: Kyiv, the western regions, energy installations, railways, ports, critical infrastructure. Nothing random. A coordinated strike with hybrid logistics - Russian missile, Western brains, Ukrainian price in lives. How long does it take before someone in the EU reacts to its own export laws?

For the Balkans, this story isn't distant. The same kind of "grey zone" works for weapons - everyone went round and round in it during the Yugoslav wars. We know how it goes: everyone condemns, no one pays the price. The manufacturer walks off with a clean stamp, and the resident in Kyiv, or somewhere in the Balkans, looks at the starry sky and counts - is the next night coming.