Lawmakers press Pentagon on who is tracking US weapons in Ukraine

A senior Defense Department official on Tuesday said U.S. weapons and munitions in Ukraine are not being systemically misused after House lawmakers raised concerns over proper oversight of the billions of dollars in security aid flowing to Kyiv.

Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s under secretary of Defense for policy, told the House Armed Services Committee it has not “seen any evidence of diversion” from U.S. assistance to support Ukraine against a Russian invasion.

“We think the Ukrainians are using properly what they’ve been given,” Kahl said.

Lawmakers, however, raised concerns about longstanding corruption in Ukraine and the fact there are very few U.S. personnel on the ground in the country to track the weapons and equipment transfers.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) hammered the Defense Department’s lead watchdog, Inspector General Robert Storch, after he said they were continuing to look at the issue through a number of ongoing projects, but did not definitively say there was no corruption or misuse of U.S. military aid.

“You cannot testify that everything is complying with the law in end-use monitoring,” Gaetz said. “If you could testify to that, you would.”

Most lawmakers who raised questions about oversight of aid to Ukraine were Republicans, but some Democrats also pressed officials on the steps they were taking to ensure the emergency assistance was not being misused.

Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) and Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) asked how the U.S. was ensuring that weapons were not ending up misused by the Ukrainian government or sold on the international black market.

Kahl answered that he has not seen any indications Ukrainians were selling the equipment and the U.S. actively discusses the issue of corruption with Kyiv.

The Defense Department has provided Ukrainians with scanners to keep track of equipment transfers and officials use a software database of inventory employed by NATO for monitoring. The Pentagon also works with about a dozen officials at the U.S. Embassy for certain on-site visits, according to Kahl.

But Kahl said Ukraine is an “active warzone” without U.S. troops, which complicates physical and in-person monitoring efforts.

“There are always going to be things you don’t know that are happening and you don’t see,” Kahl said. “But we are not seeing any evidence of systemic diversion of the equipment the United States has provided.”

Congress approved $113 billion in emergency assistance for Ukraine last year after Russia invaded the neighboring country in February 2022, including about $67 billion for defense-related needs.

Also in those bills was roughly $42 million for oversight efforts. Federal agencies monitor the transfer of emergency assistance, but inspector general offices are responsible for auditing the departments to ensure compliance and to issue recommendations.

Those watchdog groups launched a more robust and coordinated group effort focused on Ukraine this past summer.

The Ukraine Oversight Interagency Working Group now consists of about 20 organizations, including inspector general offices for the Department of Defense, State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The group has so far completed 14 reviews, including on defense equipment transfers and direct financial support to Ukraine.

An October report on the defense equipment transfers remains classified, but the working group did identify a limitation in monitoring equipment transfers because of the small number of available U.S. personnel on the ground.

However, the White House has repeatedly said there is no evidence that U.S. assistance has been misused by Kyiv. And U.S. officials have applauded Ukraine for rooting out corruption, including an effort last month that led to the removal of several top government officials.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said at a press briefing last month they have “not seen any signs” that U.S. aid has “fallen prey to any kind of corruption in Ukraine. “

“And I would go so far as to say the same on the security assistance side as well,” Kirby said.

How American taxpayer dollars are being used in Ukraine has been a focus for some Republicans since the money began flowing to Kyiv last year.

Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a bill last year when Republicans were in the minority that would have authorized a full auditing of Ukraine aid. Greene announced this month she will introduce a similar bill in the GOP-controlled chamber.

And Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, has launched a probe into oversight of U.S. aid to Ukraine. Comer sent a letter requesting information from Biden administration officials last week.

The inspectors general of the Pentagon, State Department and USAID have recently discussed the possibility of sending in auditors to Ukraine after they traveled to the country in January.

Also last month, the watchdog groups released a strategic plan highlighting 64 ongoing or planned projects related to oversight of the federal assistance. 

Among those projects were audits of U.S. training for Ukrainian armed forces and the Pentagon’s replenishment of weapons and munitions stockpiles, as well as non-defense spending aid, such as humanitarian assistance and efforts on countering Russian disinformation.

Storch told lawmakers on Tuesday they would have an update on those projects in April, which will give a clearer picture of how the U.S. is handling the monitoring of emergency aid to Ukraine.

But Storch admitted the October report revealed serious challenges with oversight of emergency assistance in Ukraine.

“What the report did is it acknowledged the challenges that are faced in those circumstances,” he said. “We are going back and looking at what steps have been taken to address those challenges.”