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Some of the more than $113 billion worth of weapons and military equipment the U.S. shipped to Ukraine for its fight against Russia couldn’t be used in combat operations because of improper maintenance and poor conditions at U.S. Army warehouses in Europe.
It resulted in delays and increased costs to repair damaged equipment before the firepower could be sent to the battlefield, according to a just-released report to Congress by the inspectors general from the Defense and State departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
IG investigators found that manifests on military cargo aircraft were incomplete and led to a “lack of visibility” of equipment arriving at transfer points inside Europe. Also, the Pentagon didn’t properly track $1 billion worth of sophisticated weapons and other military equipment sent to Ukraine that require special monitoring, such as Javelin and Stinger missiles and night-vision devices.
The findings come at an awkward time for the Biden administration, which is struggling to get a major new military funding package through Congress that includes some $60 billion for Kyiv as it tries to fight off a Russian invading force. The package faces an uncertain future in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where many conservatives have questioned the size of the aid package and whether it is being efficiently deployed.
Last week, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Republican lawmakers in the House Oversight Committee pressed the Pentagon on the oversight of the weapons and sensitive equipment being sent to Ukraine, noting the Defense Department’s inspector general had flagged “failures” to “track enhanced weapons and other defense articles going to Ukraine.”
They said in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that the Office of Defense Cooperation in Ukraine delayed conducting initial inventories of weapons and items requiring extra monitoring, sometimes falling hundreds of days behind schedule on their inventory due dates. The lawmakers also expressed concern over the Pentagon’s reliance on Ukraine’s own military to monitor and track U.S.-provided weapons and equipment.
The U.S. government coordinates military assistance to Ukraine under the framework of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which was originally launched in response to Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Congress designated Robert P. Storch, the Pentagon’s inspector general, as the lead inspector for Operation Atlantic Resolve. The combined IG offices have nearly 400 people assigned to track the operation’s funding in the U.S. and Europe.
More than 50 nations are supporting Ukraine, of which the U.S. is the largest donor, in a conflict that has grown to become the largest land war in Europe since the end of World War II. It has left hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides and displaced millions of Ukrainian civilians from their homes.
Ukraine has held its ground on the battlefield against much larger Russian forces but has been unsuccessful in reclaiming captured territory after two years of war.
Limited supplies of artillery and air defense ammunition continue to be a “significant challenge” to Kyiv, the IG investigators said.
“The high rate of fire has also resulted in artillery systems being employed beyond their recommended maintenance schedules, which exposes (Ukrainian) soldiers to increased risks of weapons failure,” the report said.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said Ukraine’s ability to beat back the initial wave of Russia’s invasion two years ago and recapture half of the territory initially lost to them is a sign they are adapting in the most trying circumstances.
“It continues to be a tough fight,” Gen. Ryder said Thursday at the Pentagon. “We are going to continue to continue to support them (and) we’re going to advise as best we can. But at the end of the day, it’s up to Ukraine to plan and execute its operations.”
The report noted that the Kremlin is facing its own challenges as a war it thought would be over in weeks hits its second anniversary. Russian commanders and their staffs suffer from poor situational awareness, a rigid command-and-control system and a toxic leadership culture, the report noted.
“These failings have reduced maneuverability and the effectiveness of long-range strikes,” the report said. “They have weakened overall Russian military battlefield capability.”
A manpower shortage has restricted Russia’s capacity to conduct offensive operations in Ukraine, despite a recent mobilization of 300,000 soldiers and plans to increase its military to 1.5 million troops by 2026, IG officials said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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