2024-01-12 17:40:00
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The Pentagon should monitor US arms sales to Ukraine. Now it turns out that the whereregardings of many weapons are not known.
Washington – The US Department of Defense appears to have failed to adequately track arms deliveries to Ukraine worth more than a billion dollars in recent months. As an internal Pentagon report showed on Wednesday (January 10), responsible US officials did not properly document the transport via Poland, so the whereregardings of numerous weapons have not been officially clarified. The publication comes precisely at a phase in which the USA actually wants to discuss new arms deliveries to Ukraine.
According to the report, a US law requires weapons with sensitive technology and small size to be closely monitored when transported because they are particularly attractive to gun smugglers. The arms deliveries to Kiev included around 40,000 such weapons worth $1.7 billion. These included almost 10,000 Javelin anti-tank missiles, 2,500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles, around 750 Kamikaze Switchblade drones and 430 medium-range air-to-air missiles.
Weapons deliveries to Ukraine: Pentagon knows nothing regarding the whereregardings of 59 percent of the weapons
“Because of their sensitivity, their vulnerability to diversion or abuse, and the resulting consequences, it is particularly important that these additional controls and accountability be maintained,” confirmed Robert P. Storch, Pentagon inspector general, in an interview with the New York Times on Thursday. Storch had previously published a partially redacted copy of the report. According to the results of the report, it is not possible to provide reliable information regarding the whereregardings of 59 percent of the arms shipments to be checked.
A US military ATACMS missile is launched. (Archive image) © US Army/Avalon/IMAGO
There is no evidence that the weapons were lost on their way to a US military logistics center in Poland and then to the front in Ukraine. However, possible misuse for illegal purposes was not specifically investigated because this “might not be determined as part of our assessment,” according to the report.
Chaos at the front, lack of personnel: Why the Pentagon failed to document weapons worth billions
The reasons for the inadequate controls include limited staffing and the fact that the end-use control regulations were only introduced in December 2022. In addition, US officials can only move to a limited extent in the Ukrainian war zone. This makes it particularly difficult to accurately check whether the weapons actually reached the front.
The report’s findings might intensify discussions regarding further military aid to Ukraine. US President Joe Biden is currently trying to get further financial and military aid approved. But there is disagreement in Congress. The USA has so far been Ukraine’s largest supporter in the fight once morest Russia. But deliveries from the West have been declining for several months. Western experts warn that without sufficient help from the West, Ukrainian armed forces might lose the war once morest Russia. (nz)
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