Pentagon Overestimated Value Of Ukraine Aid By $3 Billion

President Joe Biden, backed by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, has signaled that there is no end in sight to America’s ongoing support for Ukraine in its war against invading Russian troops.

As the price tag continues to escalate, however, a growing number of critics are concerned about the potential for fraud as well as the toll that the spending will take on U.S. military preparedness.

Some Republicans on Capitol Hill are advocating for more congressional oversight in the matter, but a recent development in the narrative proved that billions of dollars in Ukrainian aid could be shrouded beneath an apparent accounting error.

A Defense Department update this week confirmed that the Pentagon used the value of new military equipment to estimate the value of U.S. arms sent to Ukraine, resulting in an overvaluation of roughly $3 billion.

The news only added to the intensifying backlash over what many critics see as an aid program that is not being held accountable.

Rep. Thomas Massey (R-TN) asserted just weeks after his party secured a majority in the House of Representatives that Biden would no longer receive “any more blank checks” to prop up the Ukrainian army.

“And if he does there will be a recorded vote,” Massie said. “And if we ended up taking three or four recorded votes on Ukraine, I think each time you’ll see support for the U.S. involvement there diminish.”

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh attempted to explain away the multibillion-dollar mistake in a statement, noting that the error was uncovered during a “regular oversight process of presidential drawdown packages” by the Department of Defense.

“In some cases, ‘replacement cost’ rather than ‘net book value’ was used, therefore overestimating the value of the equipment draw down from U.S. stocks,” she added.

Singh expressed confidence that the overestimation would not impact America’s ongoing Ukraine aid, but one Pentagon official cited by the Associated Press said that the total estimate of such accounting mistakes is not yet known.

The Defense Department comptroller has reportedly called for a thorough review of Ukraine spending thus far in the war in order to more precisely determine the cost.