$44bln worth of US aid to Ukraine gone untracked by State Dept: Report
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GAO has released a damning report, revealing that the US Department of State has failed to effectively coordinate and oversee more than $44 billion in supplies destined for Ukraine.
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Ukrainian soldiers load a truck with a US-made FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile on its delivery at Kiev's Boryspil Airport on February 11. (AFP via Getty Images)
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported, on Thursday, that the US Department of State is neglecting its responsibility to coordinate and oversee over $44 billion in American supplies to Ukraine.
"State doesn't have a systematic, comprehensive approach to specifically track this funding," the GAO said. "We recommended that the State better track funding related to the Ukraine crisis."
In further detail, GAO unmasked that the State Department lacked a structured method for categorizing and monitoring foreign aid designated specifically for addressing the war in Ukraine. As a result, the Department encountered difficulties in accurately reporting the status of this assistance.
"Without such separate tracking, the State cannot provide timely information on the status of foreign assistance related to the Ukraine crisis that can be used to understand the status of assistance and to inform decisions about future funding," GAO said.
In the last two years, GAO noted that four US agencies have designated $44.1 billion from supplementary allocations and other resources to tackle the economic and humanitarian challenges faced by individuals impacted by the Ukraine crisis.
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US weapons to Ukraine funneled into black market: Ex-Pentagon official
Last year, former senior Pentagon Advisor Col. Douglas Macgregor highlighted the possibility of US-supplied weapons to Ukraine ending up on the black market.
"We're sending a billion dollars worth of equipment and much of it disappears perhaps on the black market and the cash never gets where it's supposed to go! What's happening right now demands our attention and understanding," Colonel Douglas Macgregor said in a post on X.
Similarly, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu constantly stated the arms supplied by the West to Ukraine were ending up on the black market and spreading across West Asia.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Western countries have been steadily offering military aid to Ukraine, evolving from artillery munitions and training in 2022 to more substantial weaponry, including tanks, throughout 2023 and 2024.
Read next: Is Ukraine at an impasse in its war against Russia?
