The US Department of Defense (DoD) admitted Tuesday that it had overestimated the value of military weapons and equipment sent to Ukraine over the past two years.
Previous estimates showed that as of June 13, Washington had committed more than $40 billion in security assistance to the war-torn nation.
However, when the Pentagon recalculated the aid, it turned out that the country had provided less than $34 billion in military equipment to Kyiv.
The $6.2-billion surplus would reportedly allow the US government to provide more military aid to Ukraine without asking Congress for additional money.
“In a significant number of cases, [military] services used replacement costs rather than net book value, thereby overestimating the value of equipment drawn down from US stocks,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said.
The latest figures are “final,” she added.
Tracking Issue
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, US President Joe Biden has approved several tranches of military aid to support Kyiv’s defense.
Unlike the conventional process, the DoD is utilizing presidential drawdown authority to pull weapons, ammunition, and other equipment from Pentagon stocks for faster delivery.
Without going through the purchase process, the equipment reportedly reached Ukraine “in a matter of weeks.”
However, because of the expedited process, the Pentagon’s inspector general found that the US military was unable to properly track donations to Ukraine.
In one instance, thousands of small arms, night vision goggles, and cold weather gear had been transported without a manifest, forcing personnel to open the crates and manually count the items.
“DoD personnel did not fully implement their standard operating procedures to account for defense items and could not confirm the quantities of defense items received against the quantity of items shipped,” the inspector-general report stated.
