The Pentagon is looking to revalue the cost of the military equipment it has sent to Ukraine, allowing the Biden government to say it has spent less money on the war – and potentially spend even more.
“We’ve discovered inconsistencies in how we value the equipment that we’ve given,” claimed a senior defense official, in comments to Reuters quoted by The Guardian.
The Pentagon originally valued weapons in terms of their replacement costs. By moving to an accounting system where they value weapons in terms of cost when they were purchased and depreciated, they are able to argue military aid to Ukraine has been overvalued by around $3 billion – possibly more.
One consequence of this is that the Biden administration may be able to send Ukraine billions more in military aid without having to go back to Congress, where it is currently in a fight with House Republicans over the debt ceiling.
Not everyone is happy with the accounting trick, however, with Senator Roger Wicker, a pro-war Mississippi Republican, complaining that “[t]he Department of Defense’s change in evaluating the costs of arms sent to Ukraine is a major mistake.”
“Its effect would be to underestimate future needs for our European allies. Our priority should be a Ukrainian victory over Putin,” he insisted.
“Unilaterally altering military aid calculations is an attempt at deception and undermines this goal.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh recently reported that around $400 million in U.S. aid to Ukraine was embezzled by the Ukrainian ruling class last year.