The Pentagon found irregularities in the handling of weapons on the territory of US military bases in Europe. The report does not mention any similar violations in Ukraine.
Russian media continue to manipulate the topic of “massive resale” and “widespread theft” of Western weapons supplied as part of military aid to Ukraine. This time, the pro-Kremlin media claimed that the US Department of Defense Special Inspector General had allegedly “uncovered the facts of theft” of military aid by the Ukrainian side and “blamed Kyiv for it.”
The Russian media created manipulative news against the backdrop of the quarter publication report submitted by the Pentagon’s Special Inspector General for the period from October to December 2023. According to the document, the special group conducts comprehensive government-wide oversight of the resources supplied as part of the US government’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The document emphasizes effective cooperation with Ukraine, which provided the inspectors with all the necessary data. The federal supervisory authorities worked directly with the Ukrainian government.
The document itself does not mention that Ukraine is using Western weapons for improper purposes. This is a fake by the Russian media. It is noted that the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv conducted limited monitoring of the end use of supplies in Ukraine “as the security situation allowed.” The report finds no evidence of misuse of weapons by Ukraine. At the same time, the experts noted a number of violations in the storage and operation of US equipment at European bases.
“U.S. pre-positioned weapons in Europe were poorly maintained and not fully functional. Sensitive weapons and equipment were not consistently inventoried. U.S. Army service contracts in Poland included lax oversight of logistics,” the Pentagon inspector’s report said.
It is reported that the the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General and other US agencies have set up a working group in Ukraine to investigate fraud and corruption. Since February 2022, these agencies have initiated 57 investigations, 14 of which have been closed and 43 remain open. The investigations relate to grant and procurement fraud, corruption, embezzlement, program violations, and countering the proliferation of weapons systems technologies and components. At the same time, the violations were detected on the territory of US military bases in Europe – the report does not mention any violations in Ukraine (pp. 17-18 of the report).
One such investigation found that since November 2021, seven U.S. soldiers and civilian contractors have stolen about $2 million worth of jet fuel from an air base in Romania, a NATO military base in the eastern part of the country that is used to assist the mission to support Ukraine.
Another investigation revealed that a Romanian employee of a U.S. defense subcontractor was involved in a scheme to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. Army transportation contracts to a Romanian supplier in exchange for kickbacks. As a result of the investigation, the Romanian authorities charged three individuals with bribery, fraud, tax evasion and other criminal offenses under Romanian law.
It is worth recalling that disinformation about Ukraine’s misuse of Western weapons has been repeatedly refuted by donor countries. Ukraine’s partners have reported that they are aware of the location of weapons provided to Ukrainian defenders as part of EU and US military assistance.
Russian media have repeatedly launched fakes about Ukraine reselling Western ammunition to third countries. StopFake debunked this narrative in the pieces Fake: While Ukrainian Military is Dying Due to a Lack of Weapons, Defense Ministry Officials Sell It Abroad and Fake: Ukrainian Officials Sell Javelins to Hamas and Hezbollah Militants.
