Top Pentagon officials told lawmakers on Tuesday that no evidence exists yet that any of the billions of dollars in U.S. aid sent to Ukraine to fight Russia‘s invasion has been lost due to corruption, but noted those investigations are still ongoing.
The hearing held by the House Armed Services Committee comes as some Republicans are openly questioning whether further aid to Ukraine should be slowed or stopped entirely, and are levelling allegations of corruption in the Ukrainian government.
Robert P. Storch, the Pentagon’s inspector general, was pressed by House of Representative members several times about whether they have been any findings of fraud. He said a number of tips and allegations have come in to a new hotline, but there have been “limited findings” to date, with many reports pending.
Storch repeatedly said he did not want to talk about investigations that have not yet been completed.
Corruption allegations against the Ukrainian government have persisted for decades — thanks partially to the country’s Soviet-era ties with Moscow — and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to root it out when he came into office in 2019.
But Zelenskyy’s government is currently grappling with a corruption scandal that has claimed the jobs of several senior government officials, including inside the country’s defence ministry. Several deputies of Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov have been fired.
Members of Congress have persistently questioned how closely the U.S. is tracking its aid to Ukraine to ensure that it is not subject to fraud or ending up in the wrong hands.
The Pentagon has a “robust program” to track the aid as it crosses the border into Ukraine and to keep tabs on it once it is there, depending on the sensitivity of each weapons system, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday at a press briefing.
There’s also a small team of Americans in Ukraine working with Ukrainians to do physical inspections when possible, but also virtual inspections when needed, since those teams are not going to the front lines, Ryder said.
Celeste Wallander, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, also told the committee there is no evidence any of the weapons supplied to Ukraine have been found outside the country, refuting allegations the materials might be resold by military commanders.
Ukraine’s forces are “effectively employing security assistance every day on the battlefield,” she said.
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Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, who serves as the director of operations for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, affirmed Wallander’s assessment and noted it would not be in Ukraine’s interest to give up any of the weapons.
Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the Republican committee chairman, said Congress has appropriated more than US$100 billion in military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies.
Of that, the U.S. has doled out more than US$75 billion so far, and that includes nearly US$32 billion in Pentagon weapons and training to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion a year ago.
That unprecedented amount of aid has sparked scrutiny by some lawmakers, who want to ensure Ukraine is using that aid properly.
The current allegations of corruption in Kyiv are wide-ranging, including kickbacks for the purchase of food for Ukraine’s armed forces, the personal use of luxury cars and the embezzlement of more than US$7 million in humanitarian aid.
Zelenskyy is expected to approve legislation aimed at boosting transparency in defence procurement, which was passed last week in response to the scandal.
Reznikov said earlier this month he had “zero tolerance” for corruption and has also pledged to reboot his ministry’s anti-graft department and include experts and civic activists in reform efforts.
Colin Kahl, the U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, told lawmakers that the Biden administration has been careful to send Ukraine the weapons it needs as the war progresses, and that Ukrainian leaders are aware of concerns about accountability.
“I do think they are taking these issues seriously,” he told the committee.
Yet some far-right Republicans have called for the flow of aid to stop, pointing to ongoing domestic issues that need funding ahead of international concerns.
In early February, a group of 11 House Republicans unveiled a “Ukraine Fatigue” resolution that stated the U.S. must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine and urged the combatants to reach a peace agreement.
Such a resolution or legislation would likely fail to pass in the Senate, where Republican leaders — who are in the minority — have voiced support for Ukraine and U.S. aid.
On Tuesday, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called on Congress to increase defense spending in the coming year to confront what he termed growing threats from Russia as well as China.
Ukrainian fighters have called the U.S.-supplied weapons, which have included multiple rocket launchers, long-range missiles and air defence systems, a “game-changer” in their fight against Russia. The weapons have helped slow Russia’s advances in the east while aiding Ukrainian counteroffensives elsewhere.
Kahl told the committee the Pentagon does not foresee Russia making any significant near-term gains in the months to come, describing the front lines as a “grinding slog.”
He also declined to say if the U.S. would send Ukraine F-16 fighter jets, which has become the latest in a mounting series of military aid requests from Zelenskyy.
Biden has ruled out the fighter jets for now and Kahl said it could take 18-24 months to deliver existing F-16s, with new ones taking months longer.
He added that Ukraine wanted the jets but it was not its top priority.
“It is a priority for the Ukrainians, but it is not one of their top three priorities,” Kahl said.
—With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
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