The Defense Department says it inaccurately accounted for the value of equipment the U.S. has been providing to Ukraine.
The mistake means there is $3 billion more available to assist Ukraine.
Not including the accounting mistakes, the Pentagon has about $2.7 billion left to support Ukraine, but that amount essentially doubles due to the error, officials noted, according to the Wall Street Journal. The value related to the error could increase, officials said, according to the outlet.
“During our regular oversight process of presidential drawdown packages, the Department discovered inconsistencies in equipment valuation for Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said in a statement, according to the outlet. “In some cases, ‘replacement cost’ rather than ‘net book value’ was used, therefore overestimating the value of the equipment drawn down from U.S. stocks.”
The error has not constrained American support for Ukraine, Singh reportedly claimed.
While some Americans believe it is critical for the U.S. to back Ukraine, others oppose spending billions of dollars to assist the nation.
Ukraine has been struggling to fight against a Russian invasion for more than a year.
The mistake was discovered in March, but lawmakers were only just informed about the news, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) said in a statement.
“The revelation of a three-billion-dollar accounting error discovered two months ago and only today shared with Congress is extremely problematic, to say the least. These funds could have been used for extra supplies and weapons for the upcoming counteroffensive, instead of rationing funds to last for the remainder of the fiscal year. The Biden Administration must make up for this precious lost time by using these funds to provide Ukraine the DPICMS and ATACMS they need to fuel the counteroffensive and win the war,” the lawmakers said in the statement.
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