It turns out all of the millions of dollars worth of arms weapons the Biden Administration is sending to Ukraine to fight its ongoing war with Russia are ending up in the hands of criminal gangs.
The U.S. Defense Department’s inspector general report found a lack of accountability in maintaining the equipment it sends to Ukraine.
According to the 19-page report by the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a group posing as humanitarian aid workers worked to obtain a hoard of U.S.-provided bulletproof vests.
“In late June 2022, the SBU disrupted a group of Ukrainian criminals posing as members of a humanitarian aid organization who distributed bulletproof vests,” the report read. “The group illicitly imported the vests and sold them rather than distributed them to Ukrainian forces. A group member was found with a cache of vests worth $17,000.”
🚨 The DOD OIG just released to us a report that shows serious problems in maintaining accountability of equipment provided to Ukraine
— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) July 21, 2023
This includes criminal gangs getting their hands on a grenade launcher, machine gun, rifles, 1,000s of ammo, etc pic.twitter.com/FXD4gzArtE
The report noted that the Security Service Of Ukraine (SBU) intervened in a group of arms traffickers selling weapons and ammunition stolen from the front lines in Ukraine.
The report was issued last October, and since then, the U.S. has provided over $113 billion in assistance to Ukraine, including military, humanitarian, and financial aid.
Other groups managed to steal weapons stockpiles, hundreds of rifles, and helmets.
“In mid-August 2022, the SBU disrupted a group of volunteer battalion members who took more than 60 rifles and almost 1,000 rounds of ammunition and stored them illegally in a warehouse, presumably for sale on the black market,” the report continued.
The GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which calls for a special inspector general to oversee spending in Ukraine.
Despite the Biden Administration opposing such an act, Republicans have vowed to stop sending millions of U.S. dollars to Ukraine.