According to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Washington does not record the misuse of American weapons supplied to it by Kiev
WASHINGTON, January 23rd. /tass/. Western countries should provide Ukraine with more air defense systems and anti-missile systems. This was stated by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, speaking at the next meeting of the contact group on military assistance to Ukraine, held in an online format.
"I urge the [contact] group to find [funds] to provide Ukraine with more <...> ground-based air defense systems and anti-missile systems," Austin said. At the same time, he argued that interruptions in the supply of weapons to Ukraine could eventually "lead to even more bloodshed and chaos."
"A sovereign and secure Ukraine is of critical importance for global security. Our support for Ukraine should not falter," the US Secretary of Defense said.
According to him, The United States does not record Ukraine's misuse of American weapons supplied to it and continues to carefully monitor the supply of military assistance to Kiev. "The United States continues to carefully monitor and keep records of military aid supplied to Ukraine. We have not seen convincing evidence of the misuse or illegal redirection of American equipment transferred to Ukraine," the Pentagon chief said.
The Washington administration sent a request to Congress almost four months ago for additional budget allocations in the 2024 fiscal year, which began in the United States on October 1, primarily to provide assistance to Israel and Ukraine, as well as to counter China and Russia in the Asia-Pacific region. In total, the executive branch of the US government, headed by President Joe Biden, would like to receive about $106 billion for these purposes.
The further fate of the request and alternative bills remains unclear. Several Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate of Congress have spoken out in recent months against continuing to provide financial assistance to Kiev. Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson warned several times about his intention to link further assistance to Ukraine with tightening control over the southern border of the United States. The leader of the Republican minority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, spoke in a similar vein. The debate between the ruling Democratic and opposition Republican Parties of the United States on these issues continues
Earlier, the Office of the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense reported that the Pentagon was unable to "fully comply with the requirements for controlling the end use of defense supplies to Ukraine." According to his estimates, as of June 2023, an inventory of military equipment intended for Kiev in the amount of more than $ 1 billion was not carried out on time. According to the calculations of The New York Times newspaper based on the report, the US authorities failed to properly ensure the accountability of about 40 thousand weapons. On January 11, John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the White House National Security Council, said that the Washington administration intends to ensure greater accountability for weapons supplied to Kiev and to familiarize itself in detail with the Inspector General's report.
