Report: Just 30% of U.S. military aid to Ukraine accounted for

FPI / August 9, 2022

Team Biden on Monday approved another $4.5 billion package to Ukraine, this time for "budget needs" and another $1 billion in military aid, Reuters reported.

Of the billions of dollars worth of military assistance, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, that the United States had already earmarked for Ukraine, only 30 percent actually reaches its intended destination, a Ukraine aid organization said.

Jonas Ohman, founder and CEO of the Ukraine aid organization Blue-Yellow, which is based in Lithuania, said U.S. and NATO officials bring weapons and supplies that are intended for Ukraine to the Polish border. From there, Ukrainian officials allegedly take control and U.S. oversight ends.

"All of this stuff goes across the border, and then something happens, kind of like 30% of it reaches its final destination," Ohman told CBS News.

Ohman said his organization has to work around "power lords, oligarchs, and political players" in order to deliver the equipment through unofficial channels.

Retired U.S. Marine Col. Andy Millburn slammed Team Biden for allowing such a shoddy operation:

"If you provide supplies, or a logistics pipeline, there has got to be some organization to it, right? If the ability to which you're willing to be involved in that stops at the Ukrainian border, the surprise isn't that, oh, all this stuff isn't getting to where it needs to go — the surprise is that people actually expected it to," Millburn said.

"If United States' policy is to support Ukraine in the defense of its country against the Russian Federation, you can't go halfway with that. You can't create artificial lines. I understand that means that U.S. troops are not fighting Russians. I understand even U.S. troops are not crossing the border. But why not at least put people in place to supervise the country? They can be civilians to ensure that the right things are happening," Millburn said.

In May, Congress approved $40 billion in military and economic aid to Ukraine and its allies. Ukraine has also received billions in aid from global groups such as the World Bank.

The new round of funding, coordinated with the U.S. Treasury Department through the World Bank, will go to the Ukraine government in tranches, beginning with a $3 billion disbursement in August, USAID, the Agency for International Development, said.

It follows previous transfers of $1.7 billion in July and $1.3 billion in June, USAID said.

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