US weapons aid to Ukraine enters accountability vacuum

The substantial weapons aid sent to Ukraine funded by American taxpayers over the last year appears to have entered a vacuum of accountability, with little oversight and so far no action taken on hundreds of complaints of misuse.

Ukraine has so far received over $32.5 billion from the United States in weapons and weapons funding since Russia’s invasion in February last year. According to Pentagon officials, the US is likely to continue sending Ukraine weapons aid for years after the war ends.

But as Frontline News reported in December, the Biden administration has not been tracking its contributions to Ukraine, citing “chaos on the ground” as the reason why there are no US inspectors in Ukraine overseeing the use of American taxpayer funds. It is also hard to find contractors willing to brave the “high-risk” situation on the ground or obtain meetings with Ukrainian officials receiving the aid, despite numerous visits by Hollywood celebrities and other world leaders who safely manage to secure personal meetings with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

“Above all, kinetic activity and active combat between Ukrainian and Russian forces create an environment in which standard verification measures are sometimes impracticable or impossible,” stated a “sensitive but unclassified” nine-page cable from the US Embassy in Kyiv. 

Instead, the United States has relied on Ukraine soldiers to track the aid, as well as a mobile app still in development as part of a “public-private partnership project” which will allow photos and videos to be uploaded to a blockchain platform. 

In a report last month, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) explained how weak US oversight over weapons aid to Afghanistan made it easier for smugglers and America’s enemies to get a hold of the weapons, and said the same thing is “unavoidable” regarding US weapons aid to Ukraine.

“Given the ongoing conflict and the unprecedented volume of weapons being transferred to Ukraine, the risk that some equipment ends up on the black market or in the wrong hands is likely unavoidable,” SIGAR wrote. “Nonetheless, delayed oversight comes at a cost.”

In January, the Department of Defense (DOD), State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) published a plan for oversight of US funding to Ukraine. The plan involves a hotline for each of the three groups to receive complaints of misconduct regarding US aid to Ukraine. If the complaints are found credible, they are referred to the offices of the inspectors general (OIGs) for investigation.

But in a report published Monday, the three governmental groups note that out of 189 complaints referred to the OIGs, the inspectors general were unable to identify any instances of fraud, waste or abuse.

“There are some means and mechanisms of doing some accountability. It is not as rigorous as you might think,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told Congress Tuesday. Milley expressed his confidence that the weapons aid is being used responsibly because “you can see the accountability on the battlefield”.