ITALY, June 14th, 2023. In a report from the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General, “thousands of defense items” were unable to be accounted for as they made their way to Ukraine via Poland.

In other words, the unheeded urging of members of Congress for the necessity of special oversight for the unprecedented amount of military aid heading to the country has been proven wise, and assurances that no additional oversight was needed were either lies or foolishness.

The report, published June 8th, reviewed 5 shipments of military equipment headed to Ukraine via a single airport in Poland called Jasionka, and found that DoD personnel there “did not complete all required forms and count documentation or record item quantities consistently for three of five shipments of defense items before transferring them to [Ukraine].

Neither, as it turned out, could they confirm that the quantities of defense items received matched the quantity of items shipped, as the Defense Transportation Regulations require, for three of five shipments.

During audit procedures at Jasionka, DoD employees found crates without shipping manifests, and after opening the crates, couldn’t see or confirm quantities of small arms, night vision optics, and cold weather gear. In gathering information on this particular infringement of the regs, the report notes that DoD staff “added additional accountability measures based on their own judgment,” which resulted in the discrepancies.

In early March, senators Josh Hawley (R – MO) and J.D. Vance (R – OH) introduced a bill that would have created a Special Inspector General for Ukraine Assistance (SIGUA), which got jammed up in committee. The US has given over $120 billion in aid to Ukraine, more than any other country during that time.