The Pentagon has admitted that it does not know whether $62 million worth of U.S. weapons aid to Ukraine has been lost or destroyed. A report by the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (OIG), released on Wednesday, pointed to significant gaps in reporting and tracking between U.S. and Ukrainian forces, leaving the status of the equipment unclear as of November 2023.
Designated for End-Use Monitoring (EEUM), the weapons aid has been poorly tracked due to inconsistencies and delays in reporting. “The absence of timely and complete EEUM loss reporting, along with the lack of thorough analysis of the loss reports, impedes the DoD’s understanding of any potential violations on EEUM‑designated defense articles,” the OIG report said. This situation has heightened the risk of losing accountability over the defense articles provided to Ukraine.
The report criticized the U.S. European Command’s (USEUCOM) Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) for not consistently obtaining regular loss reports from Ukrainian forces. The average time from the initial loss of a defense item to the final loss report was 301 days, far exceeding the required 30-day period. Additionally, U.S. forces tasked with tracking the weapons did not properly analyze loss reports to evaluate the risk of weapons being captured by Russian forces.
The report could not confirm whether any U.S. weapons assistance had been diverted, but the OIG continues to investigate allegations of criminal conduct related to U.S. security aid to Ukraine.
This latest report adds to previous findings of tracking failures. An investigation earlier this year revealed that over $1 billion in U.S. weapons aid was improperly tracked, representing about 69% of the $1.6 billion earmarked for end-use monitoring.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S. has provided more than $70 billion in weapons assistance to support Ukraine’s defense. Due to its less advanced defense industrial base compared to Russia, Ukraine heavily depends on Western aid to sustain its military efforts.
