The United States has overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $6.2bn over the past two years – about double early estimates – resulting in a surplus that will be used for future security packages.
During an audit, “inconsistencies” were found in valuations of equipment sent from the US since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
“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.
The spokeswoman said that the calculation was for the 2022 and 2023 financial years combined added up to $6.2bn.
Singh stressed that the “valuation errors” did not restrict Washington’s “provision of support to Ukraine”.
As a result, the department now has additional money in its coffers to use to support Ukraine as it pursues its counteroffensive against Russia. And it come as the fiscal year is wrapping up and congressional funding was beginning to dwindle.
“It’s just going to go back into the pot of money that we have allocated for the future Pentagon stock drawdowns,” said Singh.
The revelation comes as Ukraine moves ahead with the early stages of its counteroffensive to dislodge the Kremlin’s forces from territory they have occupied since a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The counteroffensive has come up against heavily mined terrain and reinforced defensive fortifications, according to Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Based on previous estimates announced on June 13, the US had committed more than $40bn in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded. Using the new calculation, the US has actually provided less than $34bn in aid.
The aid has included a wide range of military equipment such as air defence systems, anti-tank munitions, long-range rocket systems, suicide drones and armoured personnel carriers.
The US is considered Ukraine’s most important ally in its war against the Russian invasion.
Source : AlJazeera
