US says funds to Kiev overvalued by $6.2bln, cites faulty book keeping

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
21 Jun 2023 09:00

The newly disclosed number by Pentagon is over double the originally announced overvaluation "error" of $3 billion in May.

Ukrainian servicemen load Javelin anti-tank missiles, delivered as part of military adi from the US, into military trucks at the Boryspil airport, outside Kiev in February 2022 (AFP)

The United States released a new audit of its military aid to Ukraine, revealing a $6.2 billion balance sheet error between stated and actual spending.

Pentagon said last month that it overvalued its arms aid to Kiev by $3 billion, but the most recent book revision revealed that the actual error is over double that number.

According to Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, the inflated spending record includes fiscal years 2022 and 2023 and happened “in a significant number of cases,” when US officials included the value of replacing the arms transferred to Kiev rather than just the cost of the weapon.

“In a significant number of cases, services used replacement costs rather than net book value, thereby overestimating the value of the equipment drawn down from US stocks and provided to Ukraine,” Singh said.

“We have confirmed that for FY23, the final calculation is $3.6 billion, and for FY22 it is $2.6 billion, for a combined total of $6.2 billion,” she said.

“These valuation errors in no way limit or restricted the size of any of our PDAs or impacted the provision of support to Ukraine."

The budget surplus could possibly negate the need to ask Congress for extra money packages to Ukraine before the end of the 2023 fiscal year.

The White House told CNN broadcaster in May that there are no plans to request new funding for Kiev before the end of the fiscal year next September, raising concerns by some legislators and officials that the current funds could run out before that date.

“These funds could have been used for extra supplies and weapons for the upcoming counteroffensive, instead of rationing funds to last for the remainder of the fiscal year,” stated US House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul and House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers last month after the first $3 billion error was announced.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, some $40 billion worth of military assistance has been given to Ukraine by the Pentagon. Given the newly-found discrepancies, announcements of military aid have been corrected to show the proper spending.