Sabrina Singh, the Deputy Spokesperson for the United States Secretary of Defence, unveiled the findings of the Pentagon's review of military assistance allocated to Ukraine. Startlingly, the recalculation exposed a significant overestimation of $6.2 billion
The United States has made a shocking revelation that there was an overestimation of $6.2 billion in military aid provided to Ukraine due to an accounting error. During a press briefing, Sabrina Singh, Deputy Spokesperson for the US Secretary of Defence, revealed that the Pentagon had conducted a recalculation of military aid provided to Ukraine and discovered an overestimation of $6.2 billion. This erroneous calculation included a $3.6 billion error in the current fiscal year and a $2.6 billion error in the previous fiscal year, which ended on September 30th.
BREAKING: 'Accounting error' provides extra $6.2 BILLION for Ukraine, Pentagon says pic.twitter.com/75022IXg9k
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911)As a result of this revelation, the Department of Defense now possesses additional funds that can be utilized to support Ukraine in its ongoing counteroffensive against Russia. Ukraine's efforts to regain territory occupied since a full-scale invasion in February 2022 have encountered significant challenges, including heavily mined terrain and reinforced defensive fortifications, as reported by Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander in chief of Ukraine's armed forces.
The inflated cost of each new aid package, due to the necessity of acquiring newer weaponry, contributed to the incorrect assumption that a larger portion of the funding had been utilized. However, Sabrina Singh clarified that these valuation errors do not impose any limitations or restrictions on the scale of assistance provided to Ukraine.
President Joe Biden and his senior national security officials have consistently expressed the commitment of the United States to support Ukraine for as long as necessary to repel Russian forces. However, they have privately cautioned Ukrainian officials about the limited patience of a closely divided Congress and the American public when it comes to the costs of an open-ended conflict.
The initial accounting error of $3 billion, revealed last month, elicited frustration from Republicans serving on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees, as they believed it diminished the level of US support provided to Ukraine prior to the counter-offensive.
In a joint statement, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul and House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers expressed their disappointment, stating that these funds could have been used to enhance supplies and armaments for the impending counteroffensive instead of rationing them to last the remainder of the fiscal year.
To date, it is estimated that the United States has sent over $113 billion in assistance to Ukraine.