Pentagon Finds Additional $2 Billion for Ukraine Due to New Accounting Errors

The US Department of Defence has found additional errors in its calculations of ammunition, missiles and other equipment that have not been shipped to Ukraine, worth $2 billion, according to a US government report published on Thursday, 25 July. As a result, an additional $2 billion worth of weapons may be sent to Ukraine, Reuters reports.

The Pentagon has faced problems accurately valuing defence goods sent to Ukraine due to unclear accounting definitions, according to a new report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). The total amount of mispriced materials has risen to $8.2 billion.

Earlier, in 2023, the Pentagon said that employees used ‘replacement cost’ instead of ‘depreciated cost’ to calculate billions of dollars of materials sent to Ukraine. The $6.2 billion error paved the way for billions more dollars in aid to be sent to Kyiv, the agency said.

The Pentagon said it has since discovered another $2 billion in overstated values. As a result, an additional $2 billion worth of weapons could be sent to Ukraine to cover the amount of aid approved by the Biden administration.

The GAO also noted that the unclear definition of value in the Foreign Assistance Act and the lack of specific guidance on valuation for the Presidential Administration led to inconsistencies in reporting the value of military assistance.

In addition, GAO made recommendations to DOD, urging it to update its guidance to include a section on the evaluation of PDAs and to develop component-specific evaluation procedures. The Ministry of Defence stated that it agreed with all recommendations and outlined actions to address these concerns.