US Did Not Monitor More Than $1 Billion in Weapons Delivered to Ukraine, Report Says

USA cannot trace weapons and military equipment worth more than US$1 billion that were delivered to Ukraine for its fight against invading Russian forces due to deficiencies in mandatory monitoring by US officials, according to a report by the Pentagon published on Thursday.

This means that 59% of the US$1.7 billion in military equipment that USA has supplied to Ukraine with the instruction to ensure that it was not used improperly or stolen, it remained in “defaulter“says the report prepared by the office of the inspector general of the Department of Defense, the oversight body for the Pentagon.

Although officials of the president’s government Joe Biden claimed Thursday that there was no evidence the weapons were stolen, the audit undermines two years of abundant assurances by the government that rigorous surveillance would prevent U.S. military aid to Ukraine was used improperly. This despite the European country’s long-standing reputation for corruption.

“There remains no credible evidence of illicit diversion by Ukraine of advanced conventional weapons provided by USA”commented Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, Pentagon spokesman. Mentioning what he called Russian disinformation, which indicates the opposite, Ryder added: “The fact is that we observe that the Ukrainians use these capabilities on the battlefield. We see that they use them effectively”.

He president biden already has trouble getting congressional authorization to send more military and financial aid to Ukrainewhich is fighting to expel Russian forces that invaded the country in February 2022. The audit’s findings are likely to make the situation even more difficult for Biden.

Republican representatives who oppose sending more aid to Ukraine have for months blocked Biden’s request to Congress for an additional $105 billion for Ukraine, Israel and other national security goals. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday there was no longer funding for more military aid packages for Ukraine.

USA has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, which include anti-aircraft systems. End-use supervision was necessary for equipment with advanced technology and smaller size, which made them more vulnerable to damage. arms trafficking.

The inspector general’s report Pentagon noted that the Department of Defense had not carried out an accurate inventory of the serial numbers of those defense articles to Ukraineas requested.

According to the report, reasons for the lack of controls include staff shortages, the fact that procedures for carrying out end-use controls in a war zone were not implemented until December 2022, movement restrictions of the drivers within Ukraine and the lack of internal inventory controls.