New Report Reveals Where The Military Aid To Ukraine Really Went

According to a study recently made public by the Department of Defense’s inspector general, the United States was unable to trace every piece of military hardware it had transferred to Ukraine, even while organized crime groups there had illegally procured weaponry.

Following a Freedom of Information Act demand from The Heritage Foundation along with additional media sources, the report—which was originally prepared in October 2022—was recently made public. This comes after senators voiced worries about the lack of supervision for the billions of dollars in American money that have been delivered to Ukraine.

“During the evaluation, we discovered that the DoD could not provide end-use tracking in compliance with DOD policy as a result of the limited U.S. presence inside Ukraine,” the study said. “Therefore, we are releasing this report outlining the difficulties faced by DoD personnel who are in charge of conducting EUM as well as Enhanced EUM (EEUM) when there are few or no American personnel working in the area the equipment is currently being used,” the study reads.

The study began by outlining how the U.S. was unable to trace every weapon it had given to Ukraine. It then documented multiple instances of organizations in the nation receiving military equipment for illicit reasons, even though the material’s provenance was obscured by the report’s extensive redactions.

According to the report, “in the middle of August 2022, the SBU Security Service of Ukraine dispersed a group of volunteering battalion members that took over 60 rifles along with almost 1,000 rounds of ammo and kept them illegally inside a warehouse, probably for sale on the black market.”

Another time, equipment on the front lines was stolen by arms dealers.

“The SBU disrupted an organized group of arms traffickers that were selling ammunition and weapons stolen off the front lines in southern Ukraine in late June 2022,” according to the report.

The article also said that after enlisting in a volunteer Ukrainian battalion, members of an organized crime gang directed by a Russian official were able to get ammunition and a grenade launcher.

“The gang members obtained weapons, which included a machine gun plus a grenade launcher, as well as over 1,000 rounds of ammo before joining a volunteer battalion.” According to the report, “the group’s perceived goal was to carry out disruptive acts.”

Congress has given Ukraine around $113 billion in assistance since the war started; no other nation has provided anything near what the United States has. The State Department said this week that Ukraine will get an additional $400 million in guns and equipment.

The Biden administration’s choice to supply Ukraine with cluster bombs is part of the military assistance, and owing to the nature of the bombs, this choice has drawn some criticism from both sides of the political aisle.

Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) along with Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) are two Republicans who have demanded a stop to all aid to Ukraine.