On June 20, 2023, the Pentagon announced it miscalculated the total amount of military equipment it had drawn from its stocks and sent to Ukraine. It currently has an additional $6.2 billion more in equipment that it can send. 

During a press conference, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh announced the Pentagon conducted a routine oversight procedure. This happened with regard to military equipment transfers to Ukraine where it found discrepancies in equipment valuation for Ukraine. 

Singh added in numerous cases the United States military services used replacement costs for the transferred equipment, as opposed to the equipment’s net book value. This generally resulted in the overestimation of the value of the equipment supplied to Ukraine.  

Once this misevaluation was discovered, the Comptroller published a statement of guidance on March 31, 2023.

This is providing clarity on how to value equipment that complies with financial management regulations and Department of Defense policy to guarantee the US is using the most accurate accounting methods. 

Singh stated the amount the Department of Defense overestimated for the fiscal year 2023 was $3.6 billion for the fiscal year 2023 and $2.6 billion for the fiscal year 2022. That brought the total misevaluation to $6.2 billion.

Singh noted the miscalculation did not impact any previous transfers to Ukraine. The Pentagon still has the power to use the “recaptured” authority to send out that amount of equipment.

Before this misevaluation, the Department of Defense estimated it sent over $40.7 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Joe Biden assumed the presidency in 2021.

This includes over $40 billion sent to Ukraine since Russia launched its special military operation against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

The US and its Western partners have made it a point, since Russia’s military incursion into Ukraine, to arm Ukraine to the teeth in order to ensnare Russia into a protracted conflict.