PENTAGON HIDING COST OF UKRAINIAN WAR

The Pentagon is accelerating the process of acquiring weapons and fulfilling contracts necessary to replenish stocks of weapons that have been depleted by supplies to Ukraine. The rate of reduction of weapons stocks in the US army exceeds the benchmarks by 15%. Doug Bush, the chief weapons buyer for the US Army, told reporters that the accelerating effort of the department hinges on running processes simultaneously that used to be run in succession. In total, US authorities have signed $2.6 billion worth of contracts awarded to replace weapons supplied to Ukraine since Washington began using a special Presidential Drawdown Authority. It allows for quick weapons transfers without congressional approval. In the last month alone, since mid-October, $ 1 billion worth of such contracts have been concluded, mainly for supply of ammunition and missiles. The media has already reported on the depletion of stocks of some types of weapons and ammunition in the US Army. First of all, it suffers from a lack of 155-mm artillery ammunition and portable anti—aircraft systems such as Stinger, anti-radar HARM missiles, surface-to-surface GMLRS missiles and portable anti-tank complexes such as Javelin. Earlier, on November 18, Republicans from among the members of the House of Representatives of the US Congress introduced a bill on the audit of funds allocated by the United States to support Ukraine. Parliamentarians demand that all documents and discussions on the allocation of funds to Ukraine be agreed to in advance. This applies to military, civilian and financial assistance. However, it seems that the Pentagon is not forthcoming in counting money and that the real funds spent to instigate war in Ukraine are unlikely to be revealed. In November, the US Department of Defense failed its fifth audit in history. The department failed to report on 61% of its assets, according to Pentagon official Mike McCord. The audit was carried out by 1.6 thousand specialists. They found shortcomings in the accounting of the Ministry’s assets, which include 19.7 thousand aircraft, more than 290 ships, equipment and weapons, as well as buildings, roads and fences at more than 4.8 thousand sites around the world. According to McCord, the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine and the military assistance that the United States is providing to Kiev have become “a very teaching moment for the Defense Department employees during the inspection.” According to the official data alone, US military assistance to Ukraine has already acceded $20 billion, and will continue to grow. However, the real price of Ukrainian war for the US citizens is unlikely to be revealed.