The Pentagon has acknowledged that it does not know whether $62 million in U.S. weapons aid to Ukraine has been lost or destroyed. According to a Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report released on Wednesday, inconsistencies in reporting and tracking between U.S. and Ukrainian forces have created an information gap regarding the fate of the equipment through November 2023.
The missing weapons were supposed to be monitored under the End-Use Monitoring (EEUM) program. However, the OIG report highlighted significant issues in tracking and analyzing the loss of these items. “The absence of timely and complete EEUM loss reporting, along with the lack of thorough analysis of the loss reports, impedes the DoD’s understanding of any potential violations on EEUM‑designated defense articles,” the report stated. This increases the risk of losing accountability over the weapons provided to Ukraine.
The U.S. European Command’s (USEUCOM) Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) failed to consistently obtain routine or thorough loss reports from Ukrainian forces, despite established protocols. On average, it took 301 days to finalize a loss report, far exceeding the roughly 30-day requirement. The U.S. forces responsible for tracking did not properly analyze existing loss reports to assess the risk of weapons being captured by Russian forces.
The OIG report noted that it could not determine whether U.S. weapons assistance had been diverted, and ongoing investigations are looking into allegations of criminal conduct related to U.S. security assistance to Ukraine.
This is not the first time the Pentagon has faced challenges in tracking U.S.-provided weapons to Ukraine. A previous investigation revealed that over $1 billion in weapons aid, representing approximately 69% of the $1.6 billion designated for end-use tracking, was improperly monitored.
Since the outbreak of the war with Russia in 2022, the U.S. has sent more than $70 billion worth of weapons assistance to Ukraine. The Ukrainian military, which relies heavily on Western aid due to its less advanced defense industrial base compared to Russia, faces significant logistical and operational challenges in managing this support.
